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BOOKS BY HERMAN BERNSTEIN 


In THE GATEs OF IsRAEL, Stories of the Jews. 
ConTRITE HEArtTs, a Novel. 
Wirth Master MInps, Interviews. 


THe Witty-Nicky CorRESPONDENCE, Telegrams Between 
the Kaiser and the Tsar. 
(With a Foreword by Theodore Roosevelt) 


Tue History oF A Liz, an Exposé of the Protocols of the 
Wise Men of Zion. 


Translations by Herman Bernstein 


THE ForceED CouPON AND OTHER STorIEs, by Count Leo 
Tolstoy. 


FoMA GORDEYEV, A NovEL, by Maxim Gorky. 
TWENTY Six AND ONE, SToRIES, by Maxim Gorky. 


THE SEVEN WHo WeErE HANGED, A Story, by Leonid 
Andreyev. 


ANATHEMA, A PLAy, by Leonid Andreyev. 
THE Sorrows oF BELGIUM, A PLAy, by Leonid Andreyev. 


THE CRUSHED FLOWER AND OTHER STorIEs, by Leonid 
Andreyevwv. 


THE WALTZ oF THE Does, A PLay, by Leonid Andreyev. 
SAMSON IN CHAINS, A PLAY, by Leonid Andreyev. 


KATERINA, A PLAY, by Leonid Andreyev. 


44 


CELEBRITIES 
OF OUR TIME 


INTERVIEWS 


BY 
HERMAN BERNSTEIN 


afl L: 


ese Seep esr I 
im BETTER 
BOOKS 


NEW YORK 
JOSEPH LAWREN 
PUBLISHER 


Copyright, 1924, by 
HERMAN BERNSTEIN 


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To 
EDWARD M. HOUSE 
The liberal American statesman 
Who is intimately familiar with 
American and. Foreign affairs 
and deeply interested in their betterment 
This volume is inscribed 


as a token of friendship and admiration. 


HeEerMAN BERNSTEIN. 


Acknowledgment is due to The New York Times, 
The New York Herald, The New York Sun, The 
New York World, The New York American and 
Our World for permission to reproduce these inter- 
views which originally appeared in these publi- 
cations. 

A few of my interviews reproduced here ap- 
peared also in 1913, in a privately printed Iittle 
volume entitled “With Master Minds,” the enttre 
edition of which has been exhausted since 19rd. 


H. B. 


PREFACE 


During the past fifteen years, I have met celebrities under 
all conditions and in many lands. Some were only get- 
notorious-quick celebrities, made suddenly by some unusual 
situation, wearing the garments of momentary grandeur, 
their glories dimming and their personalities fading in a 
descent as rapid as their rise. 

In contrast to these were other celebrities whom I trav- 
elled thousands of miles to meet. These were the men who 
by their genius for art, science and government, touched 
close to the springs of life; who were the real, even though 
sometimes unrecognized, hewers of circumstances. 

I have thus met practically every outstanding figure of 
my time who has influenced thought and shaped important 
events. I have experienced the stimulating pleasure of dis- 
cussing with these geniuses in their own work-shops, in the 
studies where they conceived and executed their great work, 
those questions which had been raised in their writings, 
researches, or by their political activities. 

Always and everywhere I have gone to the fountainhead. 
What gratified me most is that acquaintance with a number 
of these men deepened into friendship, establishing relation- 
ships that I treasure with pride. 

I do not know how many tens of thousands of miles I 
have traversed in the course of these journeys, during the 
past fifteen years. Though at times beset with numerous 


hardships, it has been in the main a pleasant road. The 
vii 


Vill PREFACE 


days enroute were spiced with incident and color. I have 
come to know the sea at all times of the year—the Atlantic 
and the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the 
Arctic Ocean. I have seen the little comedies of tourist 
and professional travel, as well as the stark tragedies of 
the war, which I viewed not only on military and diplomatic 
fronts, but also in the homes of the people involved in 
the war. 

What were the emotions experienced on meeting these 
celebrated men? [I am often asked. Some of them have 
been to the mind what a dip in the surf is to the body on 
a hot day, or like the clean, strong, invigorating November 
wind. Some—I am thinking principally of Leo Tolstoy— 
have been like the calm effulgence of the setting sun, illumi- 
nating heaven and earth as the day is dying. A visit to one 
was like a day in a fairyland grotto, a place where magic 
arts were thriving. With one’s intellect and vision I was 
millions of miles away from the earth, gazing with a cold, 
detached laboratory view upon the vanities of the human 
species. Another showed me the world as a circus, of which 
he was the clown, the rest of mankind the donkeys in the 
show, and the Olympian gods as the laughing audience. 
Some of them were electric currents transmitting their high- 
powered voltage of revolution through the minds of mil- 
lions of human beings. Among them were apostles of 
peace and leaders of unrest. 

I have seen the war at close range—I have seen the 
militarist diplomats and politicians, blind with passion, 
wild with vengeance, savage from the sight of blood, craving 
conquest and power. They turned the world into a mad- 
house, into a huge cemetery, while all of them were reading 
the same Bible, praying to the same God to destroy the 


PREFACE ee 


enemy—the people who did not know one another, who had 
no real grievance against one another, who wanted peace 
and work and happiness. I have seen the real victims of 
the war—the children. And I wondered as I looked at 
them: What will the young generation think of us when 
it grows up and sees the truth behind the war? What 
ideals will it have? What standard of morality? What 
respect for law and order? What sense of sympathy? 
After the most bloody war in history, in which the very 
dreams of inventors were harnessed for destruction, what 
respect will the children have for the life of a human being? 
The tears and the blood that irrigated the devastated fields, 
what harvests will they yield? 

And I have seen the peace. I have seen the victims of 
peace in various lands. And though five and a half years 
have elapsed since the armistice, peace has not yet been 
restored. The war spirit is not yet demobilized in many 
lands. New conflicts, new strife and new hatreds have 
sprung up. Instead of peace without victory, we have 
victory without peace. 


The interviews included in this book are perhaps the most 
characteristic among the hundreds of talks I have had with 
celebrities in various lands. J have made no attempt at 
fine writing, but have endeavored to secure from the celeb- 
tities their views on problems which interested them and 
me, and on which they could speak with authority. I 
have also tried to present their views faithfully. 

I have not changed these articles, and have indicated in 
each instance the time and place of the interview, so that 


tare PREFACE 


the reader may be able to judge who of these celebrities 
read the future clearly and who was short-sighted. 

The subjects touched in this book are varied and are of 
necessity treated in a fragmentary manner. Yet the flashes 
of thought of the men occupying such conspicuous posts 
in the activities of the world during the most stirring period 
in history may prove of peculiar interest to all sorts and 
conditions of readers. 

If the interviews in this collection should lead the reader 
to a closer study of the work of some of these famous men, 
I shall feel that this book has served its purpose. 


HERMAN BERNSTEIN. 
New York, June 21, 1924. 


CONTENTS 


TEARS eo DIS a a A 


CS TR a A eee SA 0 Se Sn AL EO PS ET A we 7 


“The only man in Russia who dares to tell the truth’’—Idol of the 
people—A priest’s homage—“A man not of this world”—Opposed to 
violence—Disciple of Henry George—The Single Tax ideally suited 
to Russia—Decadence in literature—Jewish Question—Darwinism— 
Religious treatises—Letters from Tchertkoff and Tolstoy. 


AEE Notas 2) Rea et oe ne a a 


The man who could not be downed—“Operation” to save Russia— 
Nothing in Pan-Slavism—The Amur Railway a blunder—European 
literature declining—Prophecy of bright future for Russia. 

The most acute and painful problem—Product of Russian imperial- 
ism—Complicated by peasant land problem—Equal rights only solu- 
tion of Jewish question—Witte hated by Tsar, reactionaries, and 
revolutionists—Arbitration as substitute for war—Armed peace little 
better than war—‘‘The next war’—Sinfulness of war not admitted— 
Religion not applied to life. 


REELS ACE EV En). ab oe ie eih sot) eke) Peet 


Most popular writer—Denounced by Countess Tolstoy—Life 
stronger than truth or falsehood—No drama in Russia—Gorky and 
America—Russia, a lunatic asylum—‘‘The Seven who were hanged.” 


POUT VLE TCE IR OR BS Syn tee och ee igh) ete heeled Ra 


His arrival in St. Petersburg a front page sensation—Apostle of 
optimism—Welcomes return of youth to science—Gift of Osiris, 
Jewish banker, to Pasteur Institute—Fighting premature senility— 
Science must bring happiness—His ‘“‘sour milk’? theory—His opinion 
of American scientists—His biography—What Russia loses by her 
anti-Jewish policy—His visit to Tolstoy—Religious views—Women 
are superior “in matters of the heart.” 


DIRT BEICOVALEVSEY fs ia cio feed make, VEC la Mae eieeine 
A constitution in chains—Tsar or Duma?—An architect-builder 
of the new Russia—Has the revolution failed?—Agrarian questions 
—Cynical pursuit of class interests in Duma—The Myth of Jew- 
hatred—Literature does not flourish in periods of transition. 


BELL eT APE LEA Mice, St che a dal nee dh verp i PAI es 9) ale 
The spiritual chief of Islam—His authority greater than that of 
Parliament—A scene in the Sulieman Mosque—A modest leader—Are 
Constitution and Koran compatible?—Sultan and Kaiser—Islam 
and other faiths—The emancipation of women—Zionism—Turkey a 
field for American capital. 


Iie SISAULEAM PT ELARDEN a). foitujeS ed |= ce hegie pee wields (sia 
Prophet of discontent—Best known commoner in Berlin—German 
writers spoiled by prosperity—The Americanization of Europe— 
xi 


17 


43 


56 


68 


88 


X1i CONTENTS 


Germany must have colonies—War inevitable—America erred in 
Japanese policy—-Mohammed and Robespierre do not rhyme well— 
Only a war can bring Russia to a new uprising. 

Harden during the war—America not ‘‘Dollarland”—Germany and 
America misunderstand each other—Hyphenated citizens out of place 
in America—The last war or madness—Nations in war without definite 
objective—Great nations cannot be destroyed by war—An age of 
small statesmen—America to be Mistress of the world—Germany’s 
Polish policy. 


BERNARD (SHAW ie Eee Ue ae ee 


Shaw on Tolstoy—The Henderson biography—‘‘America is a land 
of unthinking, bigoted persecution’’—He favors an American religion 
—Periodic peace movements—Drama in England hopeless—Anti- 
Semitism and massacres—The Life Force. 


AUGUSTE ROBT so lee i ore one oe es 


Creator of an art epoch—‘‘Rodin’s Muse” an American woman— 
The contribution of Thomas F. Ryan—Ancient art alone is 
perfect—Art museums a mistake—Mission of Art is morality, 
religion—America’s future as an art center—Woman unchangeable 
—What is art?—Hands—Rodin’s modesty—Art’s future is hopeful— 
Patience, perseverance in art—Art and woman—A definition of 
Genius—Eroticism in art. 


HAVELOCK | ELLIS) 2 a 50°) 0 ola Beet eae 


Tactics of British ‘“‘suffragettes’? incorrect—Woman’s surprises— 
No special aptitude for the arts—Russia and Spain—Roosevelt and 
Race suicide—Poe, supreme American writer. 


Henk: Beason ee ons ay Abia Eee 


Popular philosopher—Bergsonian summarizer—America’s contri- 
bution—His method of working—John Dewey and Felix Adler— 
Religion in America—Mind and immortality—His tastes in literature 
—Woman suffrage—He believes in experimenting—Immigration and 
the American type—Jewish question—Zionism—Racial qualities 
largely habits. 


° e . 


Popz (BEN EDIOT AS Vodice Oh oo els ee ae 


An wunceremonious audience—The Polish-Jewish tragedy—Ger- 
many’s peace terms in 1915—The lost archbishop—Uncoiling to 
prophesy—Difficulties of neutrality—Letter of American Jews to 
Pope—The Pope’s message. 


HANs (DEererunccis i aie ee eee ee i ee eee 


Who began the war?—Germany to bring liberty to oppressed 
nations—Russia responsible for militarism—-Germany needs colonies 
—Not. militaristic—Annexation of . Belgium—German plans for 
Poland and Baltic provinces—Separate peace. 


IsvoLsKy e e. e . . . e . e e . . . . 
The man who made the war—His intrigues as related by a French 


diplomat—Jaurés, martyr to peace—Four invasions of France. 


ALEXANDER: KERENSEY )<)4) 4) 0) 0 4 Pe 


On the top of the wave of Revolution—The “hope of the new 
Russia’’—German intrigue against him—Main problem revolutionary 


110 


120 


136 


143 


154 


167 


175 


186 


CONTENTS Xili 


defense—Plea for America’s help—His opinion of President Wilson. 

A fugitive from Russia in London—Have the Allies forgotten 
Russia’s services?—Russia ignored—Barriers and partitions. 

Among the Russian “saviors” in Paris—Living on a pearl a week 
—America’s lost opportunity—President Wilson and the Diplomats— 
Bolshevism’s horrors past—Russia’s needs—Japan’s occupation of 
Siberia an international outrage—World War only the first of a 
series—Normal relations with Russia will break Communist régime. 


EIR CEPUETER IKROPOTKIN. wie, FS NC NS ae Ong 


The exile’s return to Russia—A revolutionist persecuted by “‘revo- 
lutionists’—Bolsheviks not Socialists—Not the time for writing 
or speaking—Effect of Brest-Litovsk treaty—Russia becoming vassal 
of Germany—How arrest this movement?—America’s help in the 
west—Corn, tractors, rolling stock, 


EOC CR Yur er a Lt ye aie: te a er Me aOR 


A man hard to reach—Allies misunderstood revolution and are 
helping Germany—A secret agreement between Germany and Japan— 
A peace that is no peace—Remobilization—Letter to Lenin and 


Stalin. 


PEMERAT SUKHOMLINOFE 20) 021!) /4.4)/4) 205) Ake 3 ke 


“How are the mighty fallen i? Bolsheviet Gietence wee began 
the war?—lInterviews with the Kaiser—A scapegoat—Insight into 
Russian intrigue—Extracts from the memoirs of a deposed minister— 
Khvostoff on Rasputin—The blunders and intrigues of Grand Duke 
Nicholas. 


LENIN Ae UME an rete Ns «a pela v'e)? (ey ghs’ eoUMNa gem ah OAV 


Japan’s mission in Siberia—The La Wet of Russia—China and 
Muscovy—Sees future United States of Russia—Bolshevism diagnosed 
—Possibility for durable peace. 


MPTMAC EC TUR Ny Mua Uy gM initia) fuk Whe lai) bavih ae MLE AQ 


, Military intervention—Insane economic arrangements in German 
peace treaty—Treaty may have to be amended—Greatest criminal 
in world’s history—Sir Edward Grey’s letter—If nations had been 
united and dispute referred to conference, there would have been no 
war, 


MIG ASIN MLA iue ulna 2 Hear Kise ety cs Deed Syeda! s Hepa Mien AA 


What is ee nie eatatad due to upheaval—Other coun- 
tries similarly affected—Allied assaults against Russia—Majority of 
population better off—Peasants adhere to Soviet—Régime indestruct- 
} ible—Willing to discuss foreign debts—America’s importance in 
regeneration of, Russia. 


RRMA MME EM ANN yc ised ho hy Sask s etlad be ugueei res vail BRE Narribtenty vtec PA. 
" His pledge to the world—Recent progress in Palestine—The 
i pioneers—Influence of Zionism in Near East—Arab-Jewish relations 
. —Future seat of League of Nations? 


MEISEL etre Meets) far Maul as osc aha Gey hu eh OP 
) Relativity of nationality—Hebrew University in Jerusalem a neces- 
sity—Condition of European-Jewish students—Preserving neglected 

ie Hebrew learning—The initial scheme of organization. 


XIV CONTENTS 


Max Norpau ys Ae ee ee ee 


Modern Jewish prophet—The Jews in the war—Their number— 
—Their casualties—Their sufferings—Why did they fight?—The 
War’s balance sheet—What have the Jews gained?—Their conditions 
in all countries—The Miracle of Palestine—Two tragic problems— 
The Eastern Jew—The Western Jew—Zionism the only solution. 


Watrter KRATHENAT IS 6 ee eee 


Rapallo Treaty between Germany and Russia—Eve of Rathenau’s 
assassination—Can Soviet Government keep a secret?—Motive behind 
Russo-German pact—Essentials for readjustment—Demobilization of 
prejudiced opinion—United States is responsible for the peace and 
must help. 


George’ Crurcrmsin = 9) be Oi ee ee 


Rapallo treaty a model of future Russian pacts—‘“‘Let bygones be 
bygones’—American government misinformed—Cannot dictate form 
of government—Intervention of foreign states hopeless—Trotzky 
and Radek on Rapallo treaty—America’s attitude toward intervention 
—Colonel House’s plan to help Russia. 


Enuard (Benes Se ae ee a i ee ee 


Only an Anglo-French understanding on Germany can save Europe 
—The Czecho-Slovaks in Siberia—Four Empires destroyed—Europe 
cannot be reconstructed through Russia—The failure of Bolshevism— 
Futility of Genoa conference—Collapse of intellectual life—The 
Little Entente—Germany key to Europe’s problems—Russia’s sal- 
vation to come from within. 


STEPAN :RADICZ'). (cig tan va fae eee le) ee 


Serb and Croatian differences—A nation which honors intellect— 
An international blunder—A divergence of views—Serbs Militaristic 
and Royalists; Croats peaceful and republican—Serbian tyranny— 
Americanization of Croatia. 


ARTHUR | SCHNITZLER IO Ok bu eee 


His standing—The letter of August 1, 1914—Good will needed— 
Man worst of the animals—His Mind may improve, his Soul never— 
Intellectual pacifism—What old newspapers reveal—The reckless 
nurse—On journalistic writing—‘‘Reigen.”’ 


Roostvett LETTERS |. <5) ew a oe eee 


Confidential documents relating to Russo-Japanese Treaty—Roose- 
velt’s cablegrams to the Tsar—His wish for peace—His letter on 
the “Willy-Nicky’? Telegrams. 


Wooprow WiILsON’ i) Mob.) G4) 44 et eee eee 


The Ten Commandments and the Peace Conference—One definite, 
concrete service—Principles in back of Americanism—The wrong to 
Jewish citizens—The spiritual side of America—The penalty for 
extemporaneous speaking—Aiding the Holy Land—tThe injustice of 
a literacy test for immigrants—Letters. 


272 


285 


291 


298 


308 


318 


326 


335 


THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


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LEO TOLSTOY 


St. Petersburg, June, 1908. 
Brrore my departure for Yasnaya Polyana, Prof. Maxime 
Kovalevsky, one of Russia’s foremost editors and author- 
ities on international law, said to me: 

“You will see the only man in Russia who dares to tell 
the truth, even to the Tsar, and is not punished for it.” 

I left St. Petersburg on the day after the first convention 
of the representatives of the Russian press. The elite of 
Russian publicists had come together for the purpose of 
considering the most adequate ways and means of celebrat- 
ing the eightieth anniversary of Tolstoy’s birthday. Young 
and old, men and women, offered suggestions of how best 
to honor the man who is at present the Russian people’s 
only pride. They spoke with boundless enthusiasm, with 
fire, with zeal and earnestness with which an enslaved peo- 
ple, suddenly set free, speaks of freedom. 

A young journalist rose and in a forceful speech declared 
that the most suitable means of honoring Tolstoy would 
be for the entire Russian press on the 28th day of August, 
the birthday of Tolstoy, to condemn the wholesale execu- 
tions that are being committed daily in the Russian Empire 
and to issue a general appeal that these death sentences be 
abolished. Then an officer walked over to the chairman 
and informed him that unless the delegates stopped talk- 
ing of the executions he would disperse the Convention. 


But Russia—all Russia, except the Government, the 


Holy Synod, and the Black Hundreds—seems to have for- 
3 


4 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


gotten for a while its helplessness and its misery in its 
preparations to do honor to Tolstoy. The people through- 
out Russia are infinitely more interested in the Tolstoy 
celebration than in the work of the Russian “Parliament.” 
Only from time to time the Union of the Real Russian 
People, composed of bands of dark reactionaries, in their 
organs, which are patronized by the Government, but which 
are despised by the people, attack Tolstoy in the vilest 
terms, branding him as an anti-Christ and a traitor. The 
Church has done all in its power to hinder the jubilee, and 
on the day that I started for Yasnaya Polyana I read in 
the newspapers that the St. Petersburg authorities had 
refused to legalize a society which was to be formed in 
honor of Tolstoy and which was to be known as the Leo 
Tolstoy Society. 

On the way to Tula, in the train, a stout, red-faced “man 
with long hair’—a Russian priest—was seated opposite 
me. Eager to hear a Russian priest’s view concerning con- 
ditions in Russia, and particularly his opinion of Tolstoy, 
I entered into conversation with him. When I told him 
that I was going to see Tolstoy I noticed how his face sud- 
denly brightened, his red cheeks turned still redder, and 
bending over to me he said in a low voice, so as not to be 
overheard by the other passengers: 

“You are a lucky man. . . . When you see that saintli- 
est man in Russia, tell him that you met a Russian village 
priest who sends him greetings from the bottom of his 
heart. Tell him that the priest you met bowed his head 
with shame for the manner in which the Church has treated 
Tolstoy. And tell him that the few peasants who have 
learned to read, read nothing but the Bible and Tolstoy. 
They understand his works even better than the Bible.” 


LEO TOLSTOY § 


As we turned past the little blue church at Yasnaya 
Polyana, I saw five women in bright parti-colored loose 
dresses, laughing and singing and whirling about as they 
worked in the field, and the group, as well as the colors of 
their clothes, reminded me of Malyavin’s masterly paint- 
ing, “The Whirlwind,” which is symbolic of chaotic, red 
Russia. Finally, at about half past nine in the morning, 
after having passed through numerous labyrinthine roads, 
I found myself at the door of the little white house where 
lives and works the greatest artist and the most remarkable 
man in the world to-day—Leo Tolstoy. I was met by 
Nicholas Gusev, Tolstoy’s secretary, an amiable young 
gentleman, who took me into his room. 

Presently he entered. I cannot recall what I said when 
I shook hands with Tolstoy, but he put me at my ease im- 
mediately, and he strengthened my conviction that the 
greatest men are the simplest, even as the chief character- 
istic of the greatest masterpieces is their simplicity. In 
the corner, like a striking painting by Rembrandt, sat the 
grand old man, a black, soft silk turban on his head, his 
wide-open eyes bright with kindness, such as [ have never 
seen in any painting or photograph of Tolstoy. 

“You will pardon me if I will drink my coffee as we 
speak,” he said to me in English. Then, changing from 
English to Russian, he asked me about my impressions of 
Russia, and particularly about the popularity of Henry 
George’s works in America. 

I related to him the incident that occurred at the Con- 
vention of the Representatives of the Press. 

“Yes,” he said, “an appeal by the press for the aboli- 
tion of executions in Russia would please me better than 
any other honor.’’ He spoke in a soft, caressing voice, and 


6 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


the peculiar radiance of his face, the far-away look in his 
eyes—all really gave him the appearance of a saint, “a man 
not of this world,” as Repin had aptly described him. 

“Count, I should like to know your views upon the fu- 
ture of Russia,” I asked. 

“One of the most horrible superstitions,’ answered Tol- 
stoy, after a minute’s pause, “more harmful than all re- 
ligious superstitions—one which has caused rivers of blood 
—is that very strange superstition which sprang from the 
use of violence, and which makes people believe that a 
small number of men can now establish the social life of 
the whole community. This activity to transform the 
present order of things not only fails to help, but actually 
hinders the course of progress. The activity of revolu- 
tionists, like the deeds of violence committed by the Gov- 
ernment, will not lead to any improvement in the life of 
our people. On the contrary, Stolypin, who hangs hundreds 
of people, and the revolutionists, who are trying to kill 
Nicholas II, are only interfering with the natural develop- 
ment of events. History is full of examples to prove this. 
The French Revolution produced Napoleon. The civil 
war produced the terrible negro problem in America.”’ 

Count Tolstoy shook his head, brushed back a tuft of 
white hair from under his turban, and added, as though 
to himself: 

“Strange—very strange.” 

“Nearly fifty years ago,” he went on slowly, “the great 
question that occupied all minds in Russia was the emanci- 
pation of the serfs. The burning question now is the own- 
ership of land. The peasants never recognized the private 
ownership of land. They say that the land belongs to God. 
I am afraid that people will regard what I say as stupid, 


bf 


LEO TOLSTOY i 


but I must say it: The leaders of the revolutionary move- 
ment, as well as the Government officials, fail to do the 
only thing that would pacify the people at once. And the 
only thing that would pacify the people now is the intro- 
duction of the system of Henry George. I have outlined 
a plan according to which the agrarian question can be 
solved, and have submitted my plan to the Government as 
well as to the Duma. I have written about it to one who 
occupies a high post in the official world, and whose family 
I have known very well. But his hands are tied. His at- 
titude toward the Court and toward his enemies is such that 
he cannot do anything in this direction. I do not reproach 
him. I only feel sorry for him. They do not understand 
that the proper solution of the land question is the only 
means of pacifying nine-tenths of the Russian population. 

“As I have pointed out in my introductory note to the 
Russian version of ‘Social Problems,’ Henry George’s great 
idea, outlined so clearly and so thoroughly more than thirty 
years ago, remains to this day entirely unknown to the great 
majority of the people. This is quite natural. Henry 
George’s idea, which changes the entire system in the life 
of nations in favor of the oppressed, voiceless majority, and 
to the detriment of the ruling minority, is so thoroughly 
convincing, and, above all, so simple, that it is impossible 
not to understand it, and, understanding it, it is impossible 
not to make an effort to introduce it into practice, and, 
therefore, the only means of fighting this idea is to pervert 
it, or pass it in silence. And this has been done to the 
Henry George theory for more than thirty years. It has 
been perverted or passed in silence, so that it has become 
difficult to induce people to read his works attentively and 
to think about it. 


8 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“Tt is true that there are in England, Canada, the United 
States, and Germany very good little journals devoted to 
the single tax idea, but they have only an insignificant num- 
ber of subscribers. Among the majority of the intelligent 
people throughout the world, the ideas of Henry George are 
unknown, and the indifference toward them is even increas- 
ing. Society does with ideas that disturb its peace exactly 
what the bee does with the worms which it considers dan- 
gerous but which it is powerless to destroy. It covers their 
nest with paste, so that the worms, even though not de- 
stroyed, cannot multiply and do more harm. Just so the 
European nations act with regard to ideas that are danger- 
ous to their order of things, or rather, to the disorder to 
which they have grown accustomed. Among these are also 
the ideas of Henry George. ‘But light shines even in the 
darkness, and the darkness cannot cover it.’ A truthful, 
fruitful idea cannot be destroyed. However you may try 
to smother it, it will still live, it will be more alive than all 
the vague, empty, pedantic ideas and words with which peo- 
ple are trying to kill-it. Thus it will also be with Henry 
George’s ideal. 

“Tt seems to me that just now is the proper time to intro- 
duce this idea—now, and in Russia. This is just the time 
for it, because in Russia there is a revolution, the serious. 
basis of which is the rejection by the whole people, by the 
real people, of the ownership of land. In Russia, where 
nine-tenths of the population are tillers of the soil, and 
where this theory is merely a conscious expression of that 
which has always been regarded as right by the entire Rus- 
sian people—in Russia, I say, especially during this period 
of reconstruction of social conditions, this idea should now 
find its application, and thus the revolution, so wrongly 


LEO TOLSTOY 9 


and criminally directed, would be crowned by a great act 
of righteousness. This is my answer to your question about 
the future of Russia. Unless this idea is introduced into 
the life of our people Russia’s future can never be bright.” 

Thus ended our first conversation. Tolstoy advised me 
to meet Nikolayev, the translator of Henry George, who 
lives a little distance away from the Tolstoy home. 

“Talk this matter over with him and then we will con- 
tinue our conversation. By the way, you had better finish 
your breakfast,”’ added Tolstoy with a smile, leading me to 
the dining room. 

In the doorway I met Countess Tolstoy, holding a bunch 
of fresh white roses, and as she passed she said: 

“Leo Nikolayevich is very fond of these flowers.” 

I came out on the porch, where I met Tolstoy’s physician, 
Dr. Dushan Makowitzky. I inquired about Tolstoy’s 
health. 

“Three days ago Count Tolstoy had a hemorrhage, which 
weakened him very much,” he said. ‘But he is recovering 
very fast. Until a few days ago he walked a great deal and 
took long rides on horseback.”’ 

We had passed the beautiful flower-bed in front of the 
porch and turned into the “alley of oaks,” a straight, long 
alley, with spreading century oaks on each side. 

“Here Leo Nikolayevich prays every morning,” Dr. 
Makowitzky told me. From the “alley of oaks’’ we went 
through the forest, where the physician showed me a beauti- 
ful bit of scenery, which Tolstoy described in “Anna 
Karenina.” 

After an interesting conversation with M. Nikolayev, 
with whom I visited the homes of the peasants of Yasnaya 
Polyana, I returned to Tolstoy’s room. He spoke to me of 


10 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


his latest work, “I Cannot be Silent,” and of another essay, 
which is to appear shortly. J asked him what he regarded 
as his most important work thus far. 

“T consider my artistic works as insignificant. My most 
important works are those dealing with religious subjects 
which I have written during the past ten years,” replied 
Tolstoy. 

‘And the artistic works which were produced during the 
past ten years?” 

“You refer to such works as ‘Resurrection’ ? They are 
important insofar as they treat of religious self-perfection. 
That which is called artistic is aristocratic art. Therefore, 
I am against it. I should have said that I value greatly 
all my plain folk stories. But my very best work is the 
‘Cycle of Readings.’ Only one-tenth of it is my own work. 
It is composed of extracts I have made from the writings 
of the greatest masters of all time. This I consider as my 
most important and most useful work. It is my prayer- 
book. I use the selections for every day as my daily 
prayers. It is in every respect my favorite work.” 

In discussing the state of Russian literature at the pres- 
ent time, Tolstoy said: 

“T have a very poor opinion of it.’ He hesitated for a 
while, then added: ‘J am re-reading Pushkin now. My 
God, what a downfall, what a terrible downfall, from Push- 
kin to the present-day writers! When I think of Russian 
writers I stop on Dostoyevsky, Turgenev and Ostrovsky. 
Chekhov? Chekhov was a graceful writer, a master of 
great irony, but his work is not sufficiently substantial; it 
lacks deep feeling.” 

Tolstoy smiled, halted a while, and said slowly: 

“The value of a fraction is determined by the numerator. 


LEO TOLSTOY 11 


The smaller the numerator, the smaller the fraction. If 
_the numerator is zero, no matter what the denominator is, 
the result will be zero. The decadent school of literature 
in Russia, as well as in all other countries, is made up of 
nothing save the greatest self-conceit, and this is the 
numerator which reduces it to zero. Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, 
and others (Tolstoy enumerated many well-known French, 
English, and American writers, but later he asked me not 
to mention their names in this article), they are all 
decadents—all full of enormous self-conceit. When I 
read Pushkin I see modesty and beauty in every line. 
When I read the English or American writers like William 
Dean Howells, I involuntarily think of Dickens and 
Thackeray, and the comparison is fatal to the new writers. 
In Dickens, as in Pushkin, the shortest piece is carefully 
conceived, elaborated and polished. There is no greater 
enemy of aristocracy in art than your humble servant—my- 
self. Yet I must say that when art was supported and 
patronized by aristocrats the artists made all efforts to ap- 
peal to the refined tastes of those patrons of art, but when 
the masses became the patrons of art the artists, in their 
desire to appeal to the masses, have lost their refinement. 

“There is a saying, “You must value the opinion of the 
stupid people, for they are always in the majority.’ And 
this is the rule by which present-day writers are guided. 
Personally, though I appreciate them, I am against such 
forms of art as those of Dickens. I believe in art for the 
masses, but I cannot see even the symptoms of it as yet.” 

I asked Tolstoy to express his views on the Jewish ques- 
tion in Russia. He said: 

“Most of the things ascribed to me as my expressions on 
this question are exaggerated. To me all questions are 


12 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


solved by my religious view of life. All people are equal. 
Therefore, there should be no such thing as a Jewish ques- 
tion. It is as if you asked me about the Russian question, 
the German question, or the Japanese question. ‘There 
should be no Jewish question, no Polish question, no Rus- 
sian question—all people are brethren. It is very sad and 
painful if we must make an effort to realize this. If there 
are any bad traits in the Russian Jews, they were called 
forth by the horrible persecutions to which we have sub- 
jected them. How do I account for the anti-Jewish feel- 
ing in Russia? We often dislike more those whom we 
harm than those who harm us. This is exactly true of the 
attitude of the Russians toward the Jews.” 

At dinner Tolstoy brought up the Jewish question once 
more. He said: 

“Herzen used to tell a story of a dispute he had heard be- 
tween a Greek Catholic, a Roman Catholic, and a Protes- 
tant. The Greek Catholic declared that all the witches came 
from Kiev. The Roman Catholic said that the witches 
came not from Kiev, but from Tchernigov. And the 
Protestant swore he was sure that the witches came neither 
from Kiev nor from Tchernigov, but from Vologda. 
Herzen was asked to settle the dispute. His reply was: 

“I cannot answer your question, for I do not believe in 
the existence of witches.’ 

“That is how I look upon the Jewish question. Just as 
I do not believe in witches, so I do not believe in these vari- 
ous national and political questions.” 

After dinner Tolstoy played several games of chess with 
his friend, Dr. Goldenweiser, a young composer, while 
Countess Tolstoy was telling me of the autobiography she 
was writing. 


LEO TOLSTOY 13 


“We have been married forty-six years now. Another 
four years and we shall celebrate our golden wedding,” said 
the Countess. “In my autobiography I am describing only 
those incidents in my life which have a direct bearing upon 
Leo Nikolayevich and his work. I have already written 
two volumes, but am only as far as the year 1890. This 
work of mine will be published only after my death.” 

Soon the young composer and M. Tchertkov, Tolstoy’s 
most intimate friend, who lives but a vew versts from Yas- 
naya Polyana, took their leave. Tolstoy rose, and, look- 
ing out of the window for some time, said ecstatically: 

“What a wonderful sunset!” 

It was indeed the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen. 
Tolstoy stood for several minutes, absorbed in thought. 
Then, turning to me, he said, in a low voice: 

“Yes—yes, I am growing old and weak. My end is 
nearing rapidly. But the older I grow the happier I am. 
You cannot understand it. When I was as young as you, 
I did not understand it. Yes, the older I grow the hap- 
prer-tam.::: 

Suddenly he asked, in a soft yet searching tone: 

“Tell me, what are your religious views on life? But 
be sincere. Few people are sincere when they answer this 
question.” 

I answered sincerely, as well as I could. 

“Religion must be the highest form of love,” said Tolstoy 
after a while, ‘‘or love is merely a word. All religions are 
based on love, but Christianity is based on the highest form 
of love.” 

“In life as well as in theory?” I asked. 

“Meanwhile only in theory. But the world is growing 
ever more perfect. It cannot become perfect unless our 


14 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


inner religious consciousness is directed toward this highest 
form of love. With the highest form of love as our law 
we will be perfect.” 

During the following half hour Tolstoy commented on 
several subjects. He spoke of Repin’s latest paintings, ex- 
pressed a lively interest in the coming elections in the United 
States, and was enthusiastic in his praise of William 
Jennings Bryan, who had visited him several years before, 
and whose photograph I noticed in a conspicuous place in 
Tolstoy’s study. | 

In speaking of the latest books he had read, Tolstoy said: 

“T have recently read Haeckel on capital punishment. 
He says that capital punishment is a very good thing, for 
it coincides with Darwin’s theory about the survival of the 
fittest. It is very strange. Who is to judge as to who is 
fit and who is unfit? I may think Haeckel is unfit. 
Haeckel may think that I am unfit. Numerous things 
which are now regarded as scientifically true seem to me 
ridiculous. It is my belief that in two or three hundred 
years from now Darwinism will be laughed at.” 

I asked Tolstoy about his latest work, and whether it was 
true that he was writing a new novel, the central figure of 
which was a priest, “Father Sergius,’’ as the newspapers 
had reported. 

“T am working at present on several things that interest 
me more—religious treatises. The story mentioned in the 
newspapers is an old one. I worked on it some ten years 
ago—and it is still unfinished. I may finish it before I 
die. J have several works of fiction which will not be pub- 
lished before my death. I have another plot for a novel 
which I may write soon.” 

And as Tolstoy spoke his voice rang with notes of youth- 


LEO TOLSTOY 15 


ful vigor and I felt that notwithstanding the long struggle 
between Tolstoy the preacher and Tolstoy the artist, the 
artist within Tolstoy often asserted himself strongly and 
often came out victorious. 

I shall never forget the impressions I received that day 
in Yasnaya Polyana. The wonderful sunset that I was 
fortunate enough to watch in the presence of the great 
master is one that can never be effaced from my memory. 
Nor shall I ever forget the kindly words of encouragement 
that Tolstoy said to me as I bade him farewell. 


On July 20, 1908, I received the following letter from 
Vladimir Tchertkoff, Leo Tolstoy’s most intimate friend: 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“Leo Tolstoy has requested me to answer your letter of 
July 10th. 

“He is quite satisfied with the way in which you have re- 
produced the thoughts he expressed during his interview 
with you. 

“Will you allow me to profit by this occasion in order to 
ask you whether you could see your way clear to help Tol- 
stoy’s friends in your country desirous of expressing their 
sympathy toward him on the occasion of his forthcoming 
jubilee by putting before them the suggestions contained in 
the enclosed article of mine on the subject? In order that 
the position should be well grasped, and that no misunder- 
standing should occur, I would be very happy to furnish 
any further information on the subject or act as intermedi- 
ary agent in this matter which it would be at present a want 
of tact to broach again direct to Tolstoy until the final 
communication to him on the day of his jubilee, for reasons 


16 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


I have endeavored to state as clearly as possible in my 
article. 
“With best wishes for yourself and your work, 
“Yours cordially, 
“V. TCHERTKOFF.” 

“P.S. The last deletion I have made about Tolstoy 
‘preacher’ and Tolstoy ‘artist,’ struggling between them- 
selves in Tolstoy, is a commonplace error which most critics 
who do not know and understand Tolstoy sufficiently and 
closely keep continually repeating. In reality the two ele- 
ments are so blended in his character as well as in all his 
writings that you cannot separate them. ‘They do not 
struggle—they harmonize in Tolstoy. 

“Pp. P. S. Concerning your request that he should express 
some thoughts addressed to young writers, Tolstoy wishes 
me to say that he will bear your desire in mind, but he is 
now absorbed in other work. Should any thoughts in this 
connection demand expression in him, he will think of 


33 


you. 


In May, 1909, I received the following note from Leo 
Tolstoy: 

“TI received in due time the translation of Leonid An- 
dreyev’s book “The Seven Who Were Hanged,’ and thank 
you very much for it, as well as for the dedication. 

‘As to the ‘Cycle of Readings,’ it did not reach me, of 
which I am very sorry. Of all my books I think that it 
is the one that is most useful, and I would be most glad to 
see it translated. 

“Leo Totstoy.” 


SERGIUS WITTE 


St. Petersburg, June, 1908. 

Tue man who but a short while ago was the idol of the Rus- 
sian masses, hailed as the hero of the peace, and the savior 
of blood- and tear-stained Russia, the man who is more than 
any other responsible for the change that has come over 
Russia, for the so-called Constitution and the Duma— 
Count Sergius Witte—is not only not at the helm of the 
Russian Government, but he stands almost alone even in 
the Council of the Empire. 

A prominent Russian statesman, in speaking of Witte, 
said: “A mighty mind like Witte’s cannot be downed for 
a long time, especially amid Russian official mediocrities. 
Even in falling he never loses himself, and he is bound to 
rise again.” | 

I met Count Witte at his home on Kamenostrovsky Pros- 
pect. His large study, furnished with dark-red, massive 
furniture, holds a collection of paintings and engravings of 
the rulers of Europe. A fine print of President Roosevelt 
occupies a conspicuous position. Above Mr. Roosevelt’s 
picture is an etching of Lord Salisbury. Czar Nicholas II 
is there in various poses on the right of Witte’s desk. A 
large painting of Alexander III is on the left side, and the 
wall in front of his desk is almost entirely covered with por- 
traits of the Count’s ancestors. His huge desk was heaped 
with books. 

Count Witte has aged considerably since his visit to 
America, and at first sight he gives the impression of a very 

Ly 


18 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


old man. But as he speaks, his eyes brighten up, the pres- 
ence of a master mind is felt, and only at times, when he 
spoke of death, was a note of hopelessness faintly heard. 

My first question was about the Duma. 

“The third Duma is the best we have had thus far,” an- 
swered Count Witte slowly. “It is perhaps not intelligent 
enough, not sufficiently experienced, but it is better to have 
a Duma like this than to have no Duma at all.” 

Count Witte paused awhile, and then added: 

“The third Duma is also better in another sense. It is 
not as revolutionary as the previous Dumas. But in finan- 
cial questions the Deputies are like children—they know 
absolutely nothing.” 

“Minister of Finance, Kokovtzoff, in a recent speech in 
the Duma thanked God that there is no Parliament in 
Russia. Is there a Parliament in Russia?’ I asked. 

“Let us better not speak of this,” said the Count, as he 
shrugged his shoulders and smiled. 

“In America you are regarded by many as the man who 
gave the Constitution to Russia. Would you tell me some- 
thing about this?” 

“That is quite true, I am responsible for it,’ answered 
Count Witte. “This is a matter for the future historian. 
But let me explain to you what prompted me to decide that 
such a step was the only adequate one. Personally, I am 
opposed to such Parliaments and constitutions. I do not 
like all these disputes, these discussions, these arguments. 
I am not against listening to the opinions of other people, 
but after I have listened to all the advice and the opinions 
of others I act according to my own lights. Look at 
these,” and the Count pointed to the portraits of his an- 
cestors on the wall. “TI have been brought up in environ- 


SERGIUS WITTE 19 


ments to which constitutionalism and parliamentarianism 
were entirely foreign. I served under the most autocratic 
of recent Russian Emperors, Alexander ITI. 

“TI cannot say, therefore, that I love constitutionalism 
and parliamentarianism. But I urged it as a physician 
would urge a patient to undergo an operation. I realized 
that this operation, if it may be called so, was absolutely 
essential. Without it, the Russian Government was on 
the point of’—and the Count lowered his hand to the 
floor—‘“do you understand? On the point of crumbling 
away. There are many people who cannot forgive me for 
having signed the Portsmouth treaty, for they believe that 
if I had not signed it at that time Russia would have come 
out victorious in the end. . . . It is their patriotic feeling 
that speaks in them, although they are convinced that this 
could never have happened. But I am quite satisfied with 
these achievements of mine—the signing of the Portsmouth 
peace treaty and the ‘operation’ by means of a constitution.” 

“T understand that there is at present a Pan-Slavic Con- 
vention in Prague. What are your views as to the efforts 
made in the direction of a federation of all Slavic nations?” 

“I regard this movement as of very slight importance. 
All that was characteristically Slavic in our religion and 
culture has been submerged in Western European culture, 
so that there is no longer anything distinctly peculiar to 
Slavic nations. ‘The time when nations were actuated by 
ideals is past. Now nations are guided solely by their ego- 
tistical interests, not by ideals. The tendency among the 
Poles to join the Slavic federation and cling even to Russia 
is due simply to the setback they have received in Germany. 
But I regard this movement on the whole as rather insig- 
nificant.” 


20 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 
WATE 

Me Could Bae tell me something about the Amur Railroad 

affair?” 

“You probably know that I have opposed it all along, 
and that I am in the minority in this matter. But I feel 
that a tremendous blunder is about to be committed. Here 
I am looking over the speeches that were made in favor 
of this road. ‘They have said that unless the Amur Rail- 
road is built Russia would within four years be devoured 
by Japan, or by England, or by the United States. The 
only thing they did not say, which would have made their 
arguments complete, is that within four years the moon 
will fall down on Russia and destroy it, if the Amur Rail- 
road is not built. The future will show whether I was 
right or they. We shall see. But it is possible that we 
shall not be able to tell this very soon, for I understand 
that it is planned to extend the time for constructing the 
road from four to fifteen years. That would be more 
sensible.” 

Speaking of Russian literature, Count Witte said: 

“T am not a specialist in this line. Perhaps it is because 
I am a little too old, but I cannot adapt myself to the taste 
of the reading public. To me the younger Russian writers 
appear like youngsters who daub paintings made-to-order- 
while-you-wait, which the public likes. These young men 
are suffering from enormous self-conceit. JI am speaking 
of such writers as Gorky and Andreyev. Of course, Tol- 
stoy is the greatest artist in the world, though his philosophy 
is absolutely childish. We read his naive treatises on eco- 
nomic questions merely for the flashes of his great genius 
which penetrates everything he writes. Our younger 
writers are going through a period of decadence.” 


SERGIUS WITTE 9 


“How do you account for the decline of Russian litera- 
ture during the past few years?” I asked. 

“How would you account, for instance, for the fact that 
the crops in France are sometimes good and sometimes poor? 
How would you account for the fact that we have no 
Washington now? If we must account for it, perhaps the 
decline of Russian literature, even as the decline of the 
literatures of other countries—for decadence has of late be- 
come the characteristic feature of almost every European 
literature—is due to the fact that this is the age of technical 
development and growth. In my younger days perhaps 
eight hundred of every thousand intelligent youths dreamed 
of becoming poets. Nowadays it is quite different. I have 
just been playing with my grandson. He is four years 
old. He does not like story books as the children of our 
days did. He is interested in automobiles and all sorts of 
mechanical devices. J can remember—when I was a child 
in Caucasia—the emotion I experienced when I saw the 
first telegraph erected there.” 

A flash of youthfulness brightened up his face for a 
while. 

‘No, no,” he added after a pause, “you can’t account for 
the decline of our literature, even as you can’t account for 
the failure of crops, even as we do not know why we have 
no Napoleon, no Washington now.” 

“What of the future of Russia? Do you think that the 
present situation will remain unchanged for some time, that 
there will be no fresh outbreaks?” 

‘Russia was great and powerful, and I think that in time 
it will become greater than it ever was. A country that is 
recovering from such a horrible, disgraceful, stupid, crimi- 


#403 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


nal war as we had is a country with a future. There will, 
of course, be outbreaks from time to time. At times the 
waves of discontent will rise mountain high, and then they 
will sink again. For some time to come there will be a 
periodic rising and falling of the waves. But this indi- 
cates life. A smooth surface would be a sign of death. 
I cannot say definitely how soon this bright era will com- 
mence. Nor can I say that it will be during my lifetime. 
Perhaps in fifteen years. Perhaps in five years. Perhaps 
even sooner.” 
St. Petersburg, June, rgo8. 

Last night I had a lengthy conversation about the Jewish 
question with Count Sergius Witte, the former Premier of 
Russia. 

“The Jewish question is the most acute and painful prob- 
lem before the Russian people to-day,” said he. ‘One- 
third of the population of Russia is composed of non- 
Russian elements, such as Poles, Jews, Finns, Armenians, 
Tartars, and others. Yes, we have more than fifty mil- 
lions of people whom Russia took unto herself in her eager- 
ness to expand, to enlarge her territory, and yet we are 
pursuing a narrow Russian nationalist policy. Empress 
Catherine II wanted more land, therefore she took the 
provinces peopled by the Poles and the Jews. But nothing 
was done to make their life tolerable. 

“Nicholas I started a policy of reform with regard to the 
Jewish question. Alexander II carried on the work of re- 
form along this line in a mild and admirable manner and 
if his policy had been continued we would have had no 
such thing as a Jewish question to-day. 

“But during the past twenty years Russia, instead of 
going forward in this respect, has made rapid strides back- 


SERGIUS WITTE 23 


ward, so that now the Jews in Russia have no rights what- 
ever. 

“T have just recalled a very characteristic incident. 
When I served under Alexander III, who was the most 
autocratic of Czars, he said to me one day: 

“Sergey Yulievich, is it true that you are so fond of the 
zhidi |a degrading name for Jews] ?’ 

““ “Permit me to answer you by another question,’ I said. 
‘Could you gather all the Jews of Russia, place them in 
ships on the Black Sea and then sink the ships? You 
would not do that, would you? The Jews must live among 
us, withus. Therefore, we must give them the opportunity 
to live as we do. In my opinion, the only way of solving 
the Jewish question is to give the Jews equal rights.’ 

“Alexander III was silent for awhile. Then he re- 
marked: 

“ “Perhaps you are right.’ — 

“But as I said before, we have gone backward for the 
past twenty years, the Jews have no rights of any kind at 
present, and it is impossible to go farther back than Russia 
has gone. 

“In official spheres I have always been almost alone 
whenever the Jewish question came up for consideration. 
The same is true of the situation to-day. There is not a 
single repulsive thing conceivable that has not been at- 
tributed to me. The Union of the Real Russian People, 
through its organs, has conducted and is still conducting 
a bitter campaign of slander against me. According to 
them, I should have been hanged a thousand times. They 
have sought to discredit me before the Emperor as well as 
before the people, and in a measure they have perhaps 
succeeded.” 


24 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“How can the condition of the Jews in Russia be reme- 
died now?” I asked. 

“The Jewish question cannot now be solved at one 
stroke,’ answered the Count. ‘“‘Now that the Jews have 
been deprived of all rights for twenty years it would be 
dangerous to give them equal rights at once. Such a step 
would lead to terrible pogroms.” 

“Do you regard the Russian masses as anti-Semitic and 
do you believe that if equal rights were given to the Jews 
of Russia, the people would start massacres of the Jews of 
their own accord, without any ‘outside’ encouragement?” 
I asked. 

“There is no anti-Semitism among the Russian masses. 
But if the Jews were given the right to buy land, there 
would be a terrible conflict between the peasant population 
and the Jews. The agrarian question is a most painful 
wound in the body politic of Russia. The peasant is re- 
duced to a state of despair because he has not enough land 
to maintain himself. It is quite easy to foresee what the 
outcome of such a conflict would be in Russian provinces 
where Jews are entirely unknown. This, of course, must 
be averted. When I was in America J explained to Schiff, 
Seligman, Straus and Kraus that now the Jewish question 
in Russia must be settled gradually, but they did not agree 
with me. Not being Russians they could not realize the 
danger of a hasty solution of the Jewish problem.” 

“But what is to be done now to ameliorate the condition 
of the Jews in Russia?’ I asked again. 

“In my opinion, the Jewish question can be solved en- 
tirely within twenty-five years. The first essential thing in 
the Jewish question, as in the agrarian question, is that the 


SERGIUS WITTE 25 


official spheres should begin to realize that these questions 
must be solved. Thus far there is no such feeling. My 
project would be to abolish the Jewish Pale of Settlement 
immediately, but on one condition that the Jews shall not be 
allowed to buy land in the real Russian provinces, say, for 
twenty-five years to come, so as not to stir race-hatred in 
the down-trodden peasantry. At the same time all educa- 
tional institutions and government positions should be 
opened to the Jews. Ina word, the only way of ameliorat- 
ing the Jewish question is to give the Jews equal rights 
with the Russians.” 


June, ror. 

There are many opinions about Count Sergius Witte in 
Russia. The Czar, it is known, hates him for having 
hastened the conclusion of peace with Japan and for hav- 
ing overestimated the strength of the revolutionary forces. 
The Czar and the reactionaries still believe that but for 
Witte the Russian army would have defeated Japan, and 
but for Witte there would have been no Constitution in 
Russia to-day. 

Not that there is a real constitutional Government in 
Russia now, but there is, after all, a semblance of a Parlia- 
ment, and the more progressive members of the Duma from 
time to time criticise the Government in their speeches, and 
these speeches are published in the newspapers and read by 
the people. All this is a tremendous step forward for the 
Russian people and the Czar will not forgive Witte for hav- 
ing curtailed his powers as an autocrat. 

The revolutionists have blamed and criticised Witte, be- 
lieving that if he had not concluded the peace treaty at 


26 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Portsmouth the revolution would have triumphed because 
of the inevitable defeats of the Russian troops in Man- 
churia. enh 

The Constitutional Democrats, whom Witte summoned 
to his assistance when he was Premier, did not respond, 
fearing that he was not sincere in his promises of reform 
in 1905. Prof. Maxime Kovalevsky, a man of great learn- 
ing and unblemished repute, in speaking of Count Witte, 
said to me recently: 

“The part he has played in the history of Russia has not 
yet been properly estimated, nor even realized. I happen 
to be familiar with certain episodes of his activities in 1905, 
and I believe him to be one of the best patriots Russia has 
had, in the best sense of the word.” 

Whether people believe that Count Witte is an oppor- 
tunist or a patriot, one thing is certain, the former Premier 
of Russia, as a statesman, towers head and shoulders above 
those who are ruling Russia to-day. Whether Witte be 
called “the father of the Russian Constitution” ironically 
or in earnest, there is no doubt that it was he who wrung 
the manifesto of October 17, 1905, from the Czar, and 
though most of the reforms promised then have not yet been 
fulfilled, and some of the reforms introduced have since 
been revoked by Premier Stolypin, Russia is bound to work 
out its destiny as a liberated people, and, notwithstanding 
the machinations of the reactionary forces, the Constitution 
can no longer be revoked completely. 

In the course of the numerous conversations I have had 
with Count Witte, he has made upon me the impression 
of a man of great imagination, of picturesque viewpoints, 
wide horizons, deep religious feeling, and remarkable sa- 
gacity. ‘Though no longer at the helm of the Russian Gov- 


SERGIUS WITTE 27 


ernment, Count Witte is still regarded as Russia’s foremost 
statesman, and his views on national or international af- 
fairs are eagerly sought in Europe as well as in Russia. 

I met him again in his house on Kamenostrovsky Pros- 
pect, “the White House” of Russia at one time. Count 
Witte would not discuss the present condition of Russia at 
home or abroad, but expressed a keen interest in the efforts 
of President Taft as a peacemaker. 

“The proposed arbitration treaty is in principle not a 
new idea,” he said. “The ideal of peace is as old as Chris- 
tianity, if not older. It is older than nineteen centuries 
and yet what little progress it has made! ‘The real essence 
of Christianity is based on peace, on the prohibition of mur- 
der. I am with all my heart in favor of arbitration as an 
idea, but it is difficult to believe that it can now be applied 
in our life, that it is not merely a vague though beautiful 
dream.” 

The Count rose from his armchair and, pacing his 
spacious study, continued: 

“As I study the cost and the tremendous burden of armed 
peace, to which all nations are striving even more now that 
arbitration and peace are talked about; as I scrutinize the 
meaning of armed peace, of standing armies and navies, I 
am wondering whether armed peace is not much worse 
than war. This may sound strange, but it is true, if we 
look into the matter more deeply than the people who talk 
of peace are usually in the habit of doing. 

“Let us examine the budget of the different nations. I 
believe that from 40 per cent to So per cent of all expendi- 
tures of Governments are absorbed by the standing armies 
and navies, by armed peace. I often ask myself whether 
armed peace is not really worse than war, with all its blood- 


28 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


shed and its horrors and its enormous costs. 40 per cent 
or 50 per cent of the budget go to cover the expenses of 
wars in the past and the maintenance of armies and navies 
for wars in the future. 

“Now imagine what mankind would gain if the power- 
ful nations were really in earnest in their professions of 
peace and would do away with their enormous standing 
armies and navies, with armed peace. Think of the money, 
which represents the labor, the brains, the courage of man- 
kind, that would be saved. Imagine to what great pur- 
poses such enormous sums of money could be put. 

“T shall say nothing of the fashionable words ‘education 
of the masses,’ but if these sums of money were used on im- 
proving the sanitary and hygienic conditions of the people, 
mankind would be a hundredfold happier than it is now. 
The people would live healthier, better, purer lives, and 
they would live longer, too. Then we should have real 
progress. 

“The best of our people are ruined, the best efforts, the 
greatest minds, the strongest intellects are now wasted 
contriving and perfecting new life-destroying instruments. 
People are learning to fly. What is the first thought of 
those brave conquerors of the air? Are they inspired by 
any lofty sentiments? No. These airmen, encouraged by 
the Governments, at once contrive to turn the airship into 
a terrible, death-dealing machine. 

“We are perfecting ourselves in the art of murder. Com- 
pare the wars of to-day with those of yesterday, with those 
of the remote past. We have fewer wars nowadays, but 
one modern war is more terrible, more costly in human life, 
than a score of wars in the past. 

“The Russian-Japanese war was, perhaps, the most 


SERGIUS WITTE 29 


brutal war of the nineteenth century, and the next war, 
when it comes, will far outstrip the preceding wars in 
cruelty, horrors, bloodshed. For we have made progress in 
the art of warfare. Now, if one nation gets airships for 
purposes of war, planning to destroy the enemy by hurling 
explosives upon his camps and his battleships, the other 
nations, not to be caught napping, naturally hasten also to 
provide themselves with similar life-destroying devices. 

“‘We have fewer wars now, it is true. But is it because 
we have advanced, because we have grown more Christian 
in spirit, because we realize the brutality of war? Not at 
all. Weare not conscious of any such feelings. We have 
fewer wars because of our economic and commercial rela- 
tions. So long as the idea that war is a crime against the 
best qualities of mankind is not realized by the powers, all 
these talks about arbitration and peace will remain mere 
empty words. 

“See how a man who preached real peace was looked upon 
in these days of ours. Take Tolstoy for example. He 
preached ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ He advocated peace and 
good will to all men, but everywhere people regarded his 
philosophy as unsound, his doctrines as those of an insane 
man. They all said: ‘Oh, Tolstoy is a great artist; he is 
a wonderful writer of stories and novels; he is a great 
student of the human soul, but he is not sane in his moral 
sermons, in his philosophy of life.’ 

“To me, I must admit, Tolstoy as a preacher seemed 
quite ordinary. I also admired him as a great artist, but 
as a teacher of life he gave me nothing new. 

“Fe was paraphrasing Christ. He was repeating the 
things I first learned as a child. In the course of my first 
lessons in religion I was taught that man should be kind 


30 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


to his fellow man, I was taught the principles of peace and 
love. Tolstoy was merely stating in simpler form that 
which Christ and other religious reformers before had 
preached thousands of years ago. 

“T had learned these things as a child, but I have been 
spoiled by life. When I grew up I saw that human 
beings, instead of taking seriously these fundamental 
truths, deceived and harmed one another in their efforts 
to achieve what they called success. J was spoiled by life 
when IJ realized that none of the lofty ideals, none of the 
truths which constitute the essence of true religion, were 
applied in life. 

“Therefore, I say, if the United States, or England, or 
Germany, or any other great power, in coming to an un- 
derstanding of settling disputes and differences by means 
of arbitration, would show its sincerity by disarmament, 
that would be quite another matter. But for a long time 
to come the nations will not do it, and therefore these 
peace negotiations are not serious. 

“Armed peace is the heaviest burden humanity is carry- 
ing on its back. Look at the greatest efforts of the best 
minds that are wasted on infernal inventions—on the 
invention of smokeless powder, noiseless guns, and so 
forth. 

“And what is more important than the budget, the heavy 
cost of standing armies,—amillions of people are torn away 
from agriculture and other useful work. The armies and 
navies are robbing the nations of their best physical, mental 
and moral strength, which is, of course, far more impor- 
tant than the budget. 

“If a million men, now in the army, were working and 
earning, say, for instance, 50, or even 30, copecks a day 


SERGIUS WITTE 31 


each, what a vast increase in the capital of the land! For 
the main wealth of a country is its labor, and yet millions 
of the strongest young men are forced to lead unproductive 
lives under the present state of affairs.” 

Count Witte paused at the window of his study, facing 
the street. 

“Look at the people passing there,” he said. 

“Perhaps if the enormous sums absorbed for armed 
peace were spent more wisely we should have more happi- 
ness everywhere. 

“The state of armed peace is also responsible for the 
growth of Socialism, and even Anarchism, in most coun- 
tries. These two—armed peace and Anarchism—go hand 
in hand. The burden of standing armies, the heavy taxes 
thus imposed upon the people in one form or another, make 
their life intolerable, and the result must express itself in 
movements of discontent, protest, and revolution.” 


I reproduce here a number of letters which I received 
from Count Witte from time to time and which contain in- 
teresting comments on various subjects. 

In 1909 Count Witte wrote: 

“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“T will be in St. Petersburg in March and will be ex- 
tremely glad to see you. I hope that you are feeling well. 
I envy the peace which is prevailing in your beautiful 
country. | 

“Sincerely and respectfully yours, 

“Count WitTEe. 
“January 28-February 10.” 


In 1909 Count Witte wrote about the revolution in 
Turkey as follows: 


32 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“I am glad to learn that you arrived in Constantinople 
at the same conclusions which I reached without my ever 
having been in Turkey, but only through the logical course 
of events. 

“In general, it seems to me that there can be nothing 
more dangerous than a military autocracy. It lacks the 
good qualities of an autocracy of traditions, hereditary 
culture and complete personal independence, and it has all 
the defects of such a form of government. The armed 
forces of modern governments serve as the chief support of 
their existence (perhaps that is bad, but it is so) ; therefore 
the military element is considered the most respected; but 
heaven defend us if the armed forces of a government 
should begin to occupy themselves with internal revolutions! 

“T hope that you have arrived safely in America and I 
extend to you my best wishes. 

“Count Witte.” 
“July 3, 1909. 


In March, 1911, Count Witte wrote me the following 
letter, in which he referred to the Russian-American treaty, 
which had just been abrogated: 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“T am sending you my book with pleasure. 

“As far as the sad conflict which has occurred between 
Russia and America, I am inclined to believe that reason 
will triumph and in the end grounds will be found for an 
agreement. JI am convinced that in this matter passions 
have played a greater role than reason. Because of my 
position in Russia, I cannot state anything for publication 
on this subject, but at the same time I cannot share the 


SERGIUS WITTE 33 


viewpoint of our official spheres on this question. I would 
be very glad to have the pleasure of seeing you in St. 
Petersburg. 
“Accept my best wishes. If you should have an occasion 
to meet Mr. Roosevelt, extend to him my greetings. 
“Count Witte.” 
“March 9, 1909. 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“I was very pleased to receive your letter of June 24. 

‘““When I am abroad you may write me freely, but when 
you write to me in Russia you must bear in mind that Stoly- 
pin and his pack of hired agents read the entire correspond- 
ence. Such is the régime of Stolypin. 

“T am writing my memoirs, but I am writing very lazily. 
My memoirs cannot be published so soon. Under no cir- 
cumstances can they be published before my death. But 
if we meet next year in St. Petersburg I can let you have 
certain important documents. 

_ “As for the cablegram published in one of the New York 
newspapers to the effect that I have written a pamphlet 
about Roosevelt, I would ask you to state in the newspapers 
in my name that the information contained in that cable 
is false; that I have never written any pamphlets against 
anybody; that I am not devoting my time to such matters, 
and that surely I. would not have. written any pamphlet 
against Roosevelt, whom I remember with the highest. es- 
teem and regard as a man, a public character and as the for- 
mer President of the great and sympathetic American 
nation. 

“With the very best wishes, devotedly yours, 

Count WITTE.” 
“July 20 (August 2), 1911 


34 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“July 20 (August 2).—I am sure that the above- 
mentioned cablegram emanates from one of the newspaper 
men in St. Petersburg bribed by Stolypin—there are many 
of them here. He probably refers to the brochure of 
Morskoy, which you know, but I learned of this brochure 
only after it was published.” 


In October, 1911, Count Witte wrote concerning the 
conflict in the Balkans: 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“JT am very grateful to you for your letter. 

“Concerning the situation in the Balkans, it is my opin- 
ion that this affair will lead to many serious. consequences. 
That which should have happened has happened, other- 
wise we should have to admit that our divine world was 
created not by God but by Satan. But more than un- 
expected is not only the shortsightedness but rather the com- 
plete blindness of the official diplomats who failed to fore- 
see and prepare for this affair, and who are even to this 
day groping in the dark. What a remarkable collapse of 
talents! 

“As far as Japan is concerned, there is not the siiantene 
doubt in my mind that, under the present state of affairs, 
Japan will always go hand in hand with Russia. America 
has always proclaimed the principle of the open door in 
China (in Manchuria and Korea), and now after the Russo- 
Japanese war these doors have become narrower for 
America than before the war. 

“With regard to the rumor as to my accepting the ae 
of Minister of Foreign Affairs, it is too late for me to start 
my career anew. I have long ended it. Only extraor- 


SERGIUS WITTE , 6) 8B 


dinary circumstances could compel me to change my view- 
point on this subject. With best wishes. 


“Count Witte.” 
“Biarritz, October 22. 


“In about fifteen or twenty days I will leave for St. 
Petersburg.” 


In October, 1911, Count Witte wrote the following 
letter containing a remarkable characterization of the 
Russian Prime Ministers, Stolypin and Kokovtzov: 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“T have received your letter. I may say about your 
article on Stolypin and Kokovtzov that a better article 
could not have been written by any one living outside of 
Russia. 

“Kokovtzov is a practical man of affairs, while Stolypin 
was not. Kokovtzov has infinitely more knowledge than 
Stolypin had. But Kokovtzov is, nevertheless, not a man 
of big affairs. If he were to become Premier he would in 
all probability not raise so many acute and absurd questions 
as Stolypin raised. Still he is not in position to block the 
way of the band which is now leading Russia to grave 
blunders. Stolypin submitted to this band; he himself in- 
vented problems to please the spirit of this band. Ko- 
kovtzov himself would not raise foolish questions, but he 
would obey and follow in the direction indicated by this 
band. 

“As far as the Jewish question is concerned, Kokovtzov 
himself would not devise, for the sake of his prestige, new 
persecutions against the Jews, but he will never dare, and 


326 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


even if he dared he will never be able to obstruct the course 
of the now fashionable currents in Russia. 
“T shall be very glad to see you when you come to us. 
“With best wishes for your health. 
“Count WITTE.” 
“October 3, 1911. 


Other letters from Count Witte are as follows: 


“Villa Narichkine, Biarritz, 
“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“I received your letter only to-day, as it was addressed 
to St. Petersburg and I am in Biarritz, where I will stay 
about two months and then return to Russia. 

“Thank you very much for your statement about Mr. 
Wilson. 

“T do not think that in view of the present false ‘nation- 
alistic’ course of politics in our ruling spheres there will 
be sufficient common sense to settle the question regarding 
the commercial treaty with America before January 1. 
You say that no matter who will be the next President, 
America will insist upon equal rights for all American 
citizens with regard to the passport question. It seems to 
me that in the present frame of mind the Russian govern- 
ment will maintain its point of view—that is, it will not 
want to equalize Jews with other American citizens. 

“TI am extremely sorry about this, and IJ believe that with 
the slightest mutual prudence it would be altogether pos- 
sible to find a proper solution of the question. 

“Returning to the question concerning Mr. Roosevelt, I 
think that now America cannot help seeing that it made 
a mistake by supporting Japan in her conflict with Russia. 
Japan, instead of being grateful for this favor, has turned 


SERGIUS WITTE 37 


her back to America. With best wishes, sincerely yours. 


“Count WITTE.” 
“October 3 (new Style), 1912. 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“With regard to your questions, it seems to me that 
America will make a mistake if it does not find a platform 
for an agreement with Japan. It seems to me that America 
could find important interests in China. It is much to be 
regretted that apparently America is not sufficiently en- 
ergetic in the attention it is paying to China. 

“There is no doubt that Mr. Roosevelt at the time of 
our conflict, before my arrival in America, sympathized 
more with Japan than with Russia and aided Japan by 
loans. Such a state of affairs made my difficult task all 
the more difficult. But I do not blame Mr. Roosevelt in 
the least. President Roosevelt expressed the frame of 
mind of the American people at the time. America fur- 
nished Japan with money and America was more inclined 
toward Japan than toward Russia. 

“One of the causes of such a state of affairs in America 
was the Jewish question. With best wishes yours, 

“Count Witte.” 


On August 23 Count Witte wrote from Biarritz as 
follows: 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“TI am very grateful to you for your statement concern- 
ing the insinuation sent out purposely from St. Petersburg 
that I had written a pamphlet against the esteemed Mr. 
Roosevelt. 

‘With regard to your desire to know my opinion about 


38 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


the present condition of the Jewish question in Russia, I 
must say that the situation of the Jews is now hopeless. 
Not only is there no reason to expect any symptoms of 
amelioration, but quite the contrary, in its efforts to please 
an insignificant number of people now in favor, the govern- 
ment is devising new forms of persecution and restrictions 
directed against the Jewish people. Such a state of affairs 
may be changed only through certain internal and external 
catastrophes, which, of course, fill me with fear, for they 
would be accompanied by the greatest misfortune for my 
fatherland and the empire. 

“As far as the matter regarding passports for foreign 
Jews is concerned, under certain circumstances which are 
changing, this question could find a favorable solution, 
especially if the claims of the American Government would 
be supported also by the governments of other countries. 
Even then the question would be settled by Russia not very 
willingly, but under a certain measure of compulsion. 

“The abrogation of the treaty of 1832 is not desirable, 
for it would separate Russia from America still more, and 
that would be in the interests of Japan. 

“T should very much like to visit America again, but for 
such a visit there would have to be a special reason. If, 
for instance, they decided to erect some kind of monument 
in Portsmouth in front of the palace where the peace con- 
ference was held or some other peace monument to com- 
memorate the Portsmouth peace conference, which had 
such an important influence on the political events of the 
world, I would be very glad to come to America on such 
an occasion. 

“Of course I would be very glad if I could meet you 


SERGIUS WITTE 39 


during the coming Winter. I could give you some docu- 
ments and facts of interest. 
“Meanwhile accept my best wishes. Sincerely and 
respectfully yours, 
“Count WITTE.” 


On January 15, 1913, Count Witte wrote as follows: 


“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“Concerning the commercial treaty, I think that in the 
immediate future there is no hope for the possibility of an 
agreement, because for reasons which are quite clear to 
me the American Government cannot retreat from its prin- 
ciples and change its point of view, and Russia under the 
influence of the present ruling spheres will not want to 
lower its flag, even if it was raised unjustly. Therefore 
it is necessary to wait, for time is the best means of heal- 
ing and rectifying blunders and appeasing passions. 

“With regard to the Balkan situation, it appears to me 
that in the near future there will be no general European 
war as a result of this important world question, because 
all the great countries, or rather their Governments, are 
either unprepared for war or afraid of it. But the re- 
newal of military operations in the Balkans is possible, 
though hardly probable. 

“In this way the historical Eastern question will not be 
settled, and within a few years (a year hence or perhaps 
ten years or more) this universal question will arise again. 
Then the question will in all probability be solved through 
a general European war. At present such a war will prob- 
ably not break out, not because the nations have come to 


40 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


the conclusion that war is in principle a terrible affair, but 
merely because the Governments want either to prepare 
themselves the better, or are waiting for a more favorable 
juncture for themselves. 

“Our fourth Duma will be in essence like the third, 
but of a lower standard. 

“Now I will ask you the following: In the European 
newspapers there appeared a cablegram from America to 
the effect that Roosevelt is about to publish a letter by the 
late Mikado in which the latter asked him to negotiate for 
peace with Russia because Japan could not continue the 
war any longer. In other words, that Russia in 1905 was 
less in need of peace than Japan, who could not go on with 
the war any longer. 

“T know that Roosevelt took upon himself the initiative 
of peace negotiations at the pressure brought by Japan, but 
I am convinced that that was done not because Japan 
could not go on with the war any longer, but because she 
considered the military successes already achieved as sufhi- 
cient. Could you perhaps see Mr. Roosevelt and ask him 
in my name to give a proper explanation, which I would 
ask you to send me for publication? JI think it is not in 
the interest of Mr. Roosevelt that the European press should 
spread inaccurate reports concerning his great role in this 
great matter which present a historical picture of that time 
in a wrong light. With best wishes for your health. 

“Count Witte.” 
“St. Petersburg. 
“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“JT received your two letters and your book. I am 
grateful to you for the interesting information contained 
in your letter about the invented letter from the late Mikado 


SERGIUS WITTE 41 


to Roosevelt. As soon as I read in the newspapers about 
it I felt certain that the whole story was a fabrication. 

“IT am leaving for Biarritz (Villa Narichkine) within 
the next few days, and IJ intend to remain there until the 
end of April (May 13). 

“If you are in Europe at that time I shall be very glad 
to see you. With best wishes, devotedly yours. 

“Count Witte.” 
niVareh 210135: 
“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“IT am very grateful to you for your letter and for the 
enclosures which I have received here only a few days ago. 
Your letter has been traveling. 

“How the present tragic political conditions of Europe 
confirm that which I had occasion to tell you quite a long 
time ago in Petersburg with regard to war by explosives 
and powder and war by the burden of taxation, that is, 
by war expenditures in times of seeming peace. 

“As for the commercial treaty between Russia and 
America, I may say that in view of the ever more acute 
Jewish problem in Russia, in which passion rather than 
reason plays an enormous role, I do not think that this 
question will be settled so soon. | 

“Unfortunately the relations between America and Japan 
are apparently not adjusting themselves. According to 
the general world position of these nations, they have no 
particularly strong points of unity, while having several 
quite powerful points of difference. 

“T think that the American people should recognize by 
this time that they were dragged in by England into a too- 
prejudiced sympathy in favor of Japan in 1903-5. It is 
useless to deny now that before my arrival to Portsmouth 


42 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


and during the first weeks of my stay there, the majority 
of the American people and at any rate official America, 
sympathized more with Japan than with Russia. And 
during my negotiations J was treated politely, while Kamura 
was treated in a spirit of friendship. They would not have 
hesitated to deceive me if I would allow myself to blunder. 
“Seven or eight years have elapsed,—England is a greater 
friend of ours even than Japan, and America has not seen 
any gratitude from Japan. But let us hope that every- 
thing will adjust itself. | 
“T am taking the cure here and am not planning to return 
to Russia before December. When you write you may 
address your letters either to Petersburg or Biarritz. 
“With best wishes, 
“Count Witte.” 
“Bad Salzschlirf, July 10, 1913. 


LEONID ANDREYEV 


St. Petersburg, June, 1908. 


Two weeks after my visit to Count Leo Tolstoy at Yasnaya 
Polyana, I went from St. Petersburg to Wammelsu, Fin- 
land, to see Leonid Andreyev, the most modern of modern 
writers in Europe, the author of the great war story, “Red 
Laughter,” and of the remarkable morality play entitled 
“The Life of Man.” The most popular writer in Russia 
to-day, his popularity having outshadowed that of Maxim 
Gorky, Andreyev is also, next to Tolstoy, the most gifted 
of all Russian writers. If his work, which is in every 
respect original, must be likened to the work of another 
Russian, it would come nearest to that of Dostoyevsky. 
His keen psychological insight, as revealed in his later 
productions may be compared with the best work of the 
author of “Crime and Punishment.” 

Andreyev’s first steps in literature, his first short stories, 
attracted but little attention at the time of their appear- 
ance. It was only when Countess Tolstoy, the wife of Leo 
Tolstoy, in a letter to the Novoye Vremya, came out in “de- 
fense of artistic purity and moral power in contemporary 
literature,” declaring that Russian society, instead of buy- 
ing, reading, and making famous the works of the An- 
dreyevs, should “rise with indignation against such filth,” 
that almost everybody in Russia who can read turned to 
the little volume of the young writer. 

In her attack upon Andreyev, Countess Tolstoy said as 


follows: © 
43 


44 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“The poor new writers, like Andreyev, succeeded only in 
concentrating their attention on the filthy point of human 
degradation and uttered a cry to the undeveloped, half- 
intelligent reading public, inviting them to see and to ex- 
amine the decomposed corpse of human degradation and 
to close their eyes to God’s wonderful, vast world, with the 
beauties of nature, with the majesty of art, with the lofty 
yearnings of the human soul, with the religious and moral 
struggles and the great ideals of goodness—even with the 
downfall, misfortunes, and weaknesses of such people as 
Dostoyevsky depicted. . . . In describing all these every 
true artist should illumine clearly before humanity not the 
side of filth and vice, but should struggle against them by 
illumining the highest ideals of good, truth, and the trrumph 
over evil, weakness, and the vices of mankind. 

“. . I should like to cry out loudly to the whole world 
in order to help those unfortunate people whose wings, 
given to each of them for high flights toward the under- 
standing of the spiritual light, beauty, kindness, and God, 
are clipped by these Andreyevs.” 

This letter of Countess Tolstoy called forth a storm of 
protest in the Russian press, and, strange to say, the rep- 
resentatives of the fair sex were among the warmest de- 
fenders of the young author. Answering the attack, many 
women, in their letters to the press, pointed out that the 
author of “Anna Karenina’ had been abused in almost the 
same manner for his “Kreutzer Sonata,” and that Tolstoy 
himself had been accused of exerting just such an influence 
over the youth of Russia as the Countess attributed to An- 
dreyev. Since the publication of Countess Tolstoy’s con- 
demnation, Andreyev has produced a series of masterpieces, 
such as “The Life of Father Vassily,” a powerful psycho- 


LEONID ANDREYEV 45 


logical study; ‘Red Laughter,” a war story, ‘‘written with 
the blood of Russia”; “The Life of Man,” a striking 
morality presentation in five acts, and, finally, his latest, 
and perhaps, also, his most artistic work, ‘“[The Seven Who 
Were Hanged,” in which the horrors of contemporary life 
in Russia are delineated with such beautiful simplicity and 
power that Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, or Tolstoy himself 
would have signed his name to this masterpiece. 

Thus the first accusations against Andreyev have been 
swept aside by his artistic productions, which are permeated 
with sincere, profound love for all that is pure in life. 
Dostoyevsky and Maupassant depicted more subjects, such 
as that treated in “The Abyss,” than Andreyev. But with 
them, these stories are lost in the great mass of their other 
works, while in Andreyev, who at that time had as yet pro- 
duced but few short stories, works like “The Abyss” stood 
out in bold relief. 

Andreyev has often been accused of being the advocate 
of pessimism, and it has been charged that his influence 
upon the Russian youth is pessimistic. Not long ago, 
nevertheless, Andreyev, in speaking of his own pessimism, 
said: “I never believed in life so much as when I read 
the work of the ‘father’ of pessimism, Schopenhauer. 
Since a man could think as he did and live, it is evident 
that life is mighty and unconquerable.” 

In another place he said: “Neither truth nor falsehood 
will conquer. That which is united with life itself will 
conquer; that which strengthens the roots of life and 
justifies it. Only that which is useful to life remains; all 
that is harmful to it will sooner or later perish; perish in- 
evitably. Even if it stands to-day as an indestructible 
wall against which the heads of the noblest people are 


46 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


breaking in the struggle, it will fall to-morrow. It will 
fall because it tried to impede life itself. . . .” 

As I drove from Terioki to Andreyev’s house, along the 
dust-covered road, the stern and taciturn little Finnish 
driver suddenly broke the silence by saying to me in broken 
Russian : 

“Andreyev is a good writer. . . . Although he is a Rus- 
sian, he is a very good man. He is building a beautiful 
house here in Finland, and he gives employment to many 
of our people.” 

We were soon at the gate of Andreyev’s beautiful villa 
—a fantastic structure, weird looking, original in design, 
something like the conception of the architect in the “Life 
of Man.” 

“My son is out rowing with his wife in the Gulf of Fin- 
land,” Andreyev’s mother told me. “They will be back in 
half an hour.”’ 

As I waited I watched the seething activity everywhere 
on Andreyev’s estate. In Yasnaya Polyana, the home of 
Count Tolstoy, everything seemed long established, fixed, 
well-regulated, serenely beautiful. Andreyev’s estate was 
astir with vigorous life. Young, strong men were building 
the House of Man. More than thirty of them were work- 
ing on the roof and in the yard, and a little distance away, 
in the meadows, young women and girls, bright-eyed and 
red-faced, were haying. Youth, strength, vigor every- 
where, and above all the ringing laughter of little children 
at play. I could see from the window the “Black Little 
River,” which sparkled in the sun hundreds of feet below. 
The continuous noise of the workmen’s axes and hammers 
was so loud that I did not notice when Leonid Andreyev 
entered the room where I was waiting for him. 


LEONID ANDREYEV 47 


“Pardon my manner of dressing,” he said, as we shook 
hands. “In the summer I lead a lazy life, and do not 
write a line. I am afraid I am forgetting even to sign 
my name.” 

I had seen numerous photographs of Leonid Andreyev, 
but he does not look like any of them. He has grown 
much stouter. Instead of the pale-faced,: sickly-looking 
young man, there stood before me a strong, handsome, well- 
built man, with wonderful eyes. He wore a grayish blouse, 
black, wide pantaloons up to his knees, and no shoes or 
stockings. 

We soon spoke of Russian literature at the present time, 
particularly of the drama. 

“We have no real drama in Russia,” said Andreyev. 
“Russia has not yet produced anything that could justly be 
called a great drama. Perhaps “The Storm’ by Ostrovsky 
is the only Russian play that may be classed as a drama. 
Tolstoy’s plays cannot be placed in this category. Of the 
later writers, Anton Chekhov came nearest to giving real 
dramas to Russia, but, unfortunately, he was taken from 
us in the prime of his life.” 

‘““What do you consider your own ‘Life of Man’ and “To 
the Stars’ ?” I asked. 

“They are not dramas; they are merely presentations 
in so many acts,’’ answered Andreyev, and, after some hesi- 
tation, added: “I have not written any dramas, but it is 
possible that I will write one.” 

At this point Andreyev’s wife, a charming young woman, 
also dressed in a Russian blouse, came in. ‘The conversa- 
tion turned to America, and to the treatment accorded to 
_ Maxim Gorky in New York. 

“When I was a child I loved America,’ remarked An- 


48 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


dreyev. ‘Perhaps Cooper and Mayne Reid, my favorite 
authors in my childhood days, were responsible for this. 
I was always planning to run away to America. I am anx- 
ious even now to visit America, but I am afraid—I may get 
as bad a reception as my friend Gorky got.” 

He laughed as he glanced at his wife. After a brief 
pause, he said: 

“The most remarkable thing about the Gorky incident is 
that while in his stories and articles about America Gorky 
wrote nothing but the very worst that could be said about 
that country, he never told me anything but the very best 
about America. Some day he will probably describe his 
impressions of America as he related them to me. By the 
way, have you read Gorky’s latest work, “The Confession? 
It is a wonderful story. The Russian writers have un- 
learned to write like that nowadays.” 

It was a very warm day. The sun was burning merci- 
lessly in the large room. Mme. Andreyev suggested that 
it would be more pleasant to go down to a shady place near 
the Black Little River. 

On the way down the hill Andreyev inquired about Tol- 
stoy’s health and was eager to know his views on contempo- 
rary matters. 

“If Tolstoy were young now he would have been with 
us,” he said. 

We stepped into a boat, Mme. Andreyev took up the 
oars and began to row. We resumed our conversation. 

“The decadent movement in Russian literature,” said 
Andreyev, “‘started to make itself felt about ten or fifteen 
years ago. At first it was looked upon as mere child’s play, 
as a curiosity. Now, it is regarded more seriously. Al- 
though I do not belong to that school, I do not consider 


LEONID ANDREYEV 49 


it as worthless. The fault with it is that it has but few 
talented people in its ranks, and these few direct the criti- 
cism of the decadent school. They are the writers and 
also the critics. And they praise whatever they write. Of 
the younger men, Alexander Blok is, perhaps, the most 
gifted. But in Russia our clothes change quickly nowa- 
days, and it is hard to tell what the future will give us— 
in our literature and our life. 

“How do I picture to myself this future?’ continued 
Andreyev, in answer to a question of mine. “J cannot 
know even the fate and future of my own child, how can 
I foretell the future of such a great country as Russia? 
But I believe that the Russian people have a great future 
before them—in life and in literature—for they are a great 
people, rich in talents, kind and freedom-loving. Savage 
as yet, it is true, very ignorant, but on the whole they do 
not differ so much from other European nations.”’ 

Suddenly the author of “Red Laughter’ looked upon me 
intently, and asked: ‘“‘How is it that the European and 
the American press has ceased to interest itself in our strug- 
gle for emancipation? Is it possible that the reaction in 
Russia appeals to them more than our people’s yearnings 
for freedom, simply because the reaction happens to be 
stronger at the present time? In that event, they are 
probably sympathizing with the Shah of Persia! Russia 
to-day is a lunatic asylum. ‘The people who are hanged 
are not the people who should be hanged. Everywhere 
else honest people are at large and only criminals are in 
prison. In Russia the honest people are in prison and the 
criminals are at large. The Russian Government is com- 
posed of a band of criminals, and Nicholas II is not the 
sreatest of them. There are still greater ones. I do not 


5o THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


hold that the Russian Government alone is guilty of these 
horrors. ‘The European nations and the Americans are just 
as much to blame, for they look on in silence while the 
most despicable crimes are committed. The murderer usu- 
ally has at least courage, while he who looks on silently 
when murder is committed is a small, insignificant crea- 
ture. England and France, who have become so friendly 
to our Government, are surely watching with compassion 
the poor Shah, who hangs the constitutional leaders. Per- 
haps I do not know international law. Perhaps I am not 
speaking as a practical man. One nation must not inter- 
fere with the internal affairs of another nation. But why 
do they interfere with our movement for freedom? France 
helped the Russian Government in its war against the peo- 
ple by giving money to Russia. Germany also helped— 
secretly. In well-regulated countries each individual 
must behave decently. When a man murders, robs, dis- 
honors women he is thrown into prison. But when the 
Russian Government is murdering helpless men and women 
and children the other Governments look on indifferently. 
And yet they speak of God. If this had happened in the 
Middle Ages a crusade would have been started by civi- 
lized peoples, who would have marched to Russia to free 
the women and children from the claws of the 
Government.” 

Andreyev became silent. His wife kept rowing for some 
time slowly, without saying a word. We soon reached 
the shore and returned silently to the house. 

Leonid Andreyev’s brief autobiographical sketch is char- 
acteristic as it ‘is interesting. 

“T was born,” he said, “in 1871, in Oryol, and studied 
there at the gymnasium. I studied poorly; while in the 


LEONID ANDREYEV 51 


seventh class I was for a whole year known as the worst 
student, and my mark for conduct was never higher than 
4, sometimes 3. The most happy time spent at school, 
which I recall to this day with pleasure, was recess time 
between the lectures, and also the rare occasions when I 
was sent out from the classroom. . . . The sunbeams, the 
free sunbeams, which penetrated some cleft and which 
played with the dust in the hallway, all this was so mys- 
terious, so interesting, so full of a peculiar, hidden meaning. 

“When I studied at the gymnasium, my father, an en- 
gineer, died. As a university student, I was in dire need. 
During my first course in St. Petersburg I even starved— 
not so much out of real necessity as because of my youth, 
inexperience, and my inability to utilize the unnecessary 
parts of my costume. [I am to this day ashamed to think 
that I went two days without food at a time when I had 
two or three pair of trousers, two overcoats. 

“It was then that I wrote my first story—about a starv- 
ing student. I cried when I wrote it, and the editor, who 
returned my manuscript, laughed. . . . In 1894, in Janu- 
ary, I made an unsuccessful attempt to kill myself by shoot- 
ing. Asa result of this unsuccessful attempt I was forced 
by the authorities into religious penitence, and I contracted 
heart trouble, though not of a serious nature, yet very an- 
noying. During this time I made one or two unsuccessful 
attempts at writing; I devoted myself with greater pleas- 
ure and success to painting, which I loved from childhood 
on. I made portraits to order at 3 and § rubles apiece. 

“In 1897 I received my diploma and became an assist- 
ant attorney, but at the very outset I was sidetracked. I 
was offered a position on The Courter, for which I was to 
report court proceedings. I did not succeed in getting any 


52 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


practice as a lawyer. I had only one case and lost it at 
every point. 

“In 1898 I wrote my first story—for the Easter number 
—and since that time I have devoted myself exclusively 
to literature. Maxim Gorky helped me considerably in 
my literary work by his always prcatical advice and sug- 
gestions.” 


In 1909 Andreyev wrote me the following letter as an 
introduction to my translation of ‘The Seven Who Were 
Hanged”: 

“T am very glad that “The Story of the Seven Who Were 
Hanged’ will be read in English. The misfortune of all 
is that we know so little, even nothing, about one another 
—neither about the soul, nor the life, the sufferings, the 
habits, the inclinations, the aspirations of one another. 
Literature, which I have the honor to serve, is dear to me 
just because the noblest task it sets before itself is that of 
wiping out boundaries and distances. 

“As in a hard shell, every human being is enclosed in 
a cover of body, dress, and life. Who isman? We may 
only conjecture. What constitutes his joy or his sorrow? 
We may guess only by his acts, which are ofttimes enig- 
matic; by his laughter and by his tears, which are often en- 
tirely incomprehensible to us. And if we, Russians, who 
live so closely together in constant misery, understand one 
another so poorly that we mercilessly put to death those 
who should be pitied or even rewarded, and reward those 
who should be punished by contempt and anger—how much 
more difficult is it for you Americans to understand distant 
Russia? But then, it is just as difficult for us Russians 
to understand distant America, of which we dream in our 


LEONID ANDREYEV 53 


youth and over which we ponder so deeply in our years 
of maturity. 

“The Jewish massacres and famine; a Parliament and 
executions; pillage and the greatest heroism; “The Black 
Hundred,’ and Leo Tolstoy—what a mixture of figures and 
conceptions, what a fruitful source for all kinds of misun- 
derstandings! The truth of life stands aghast in silence, 
and its brazen falsehood is loudly shouting, uttering press- 
ing, painful questions: ‘With whom shall I sympathize? 
Whom shall I trust? Whom shall I love?’ 

“In the story of ‘The Seven Who Were Hanged’ I at- 
tempted to give a sincere and unprejudiced answer to some 
of these questions. 

“That I have treated ruling and slaughtering Russia with 
restraint and mildness may best be gathered from the fact 
that the Russian censor has permitted my book to circu- 
late. This is sufficient evidence when we recall how many 
books, brochures and newspapers have found eternal rest 
in the peaceful shade of the police stations, where they 

have risen to the patient sky in the smoke and flame of 
_ bonfires. 

“But I did not attempt to condemn the Government, the 
fame of whose wisdom and virtues has already spread far 
beyond the boundaries of our unfortunate fatherland. 
Modest and bashful far beyond all measure of her virtues, 
Russia would sincerely wish to forego this honor, but 
fortunately the free press of America and Europe has not 
spared her modesty, and has given a sufficiently clear pic- 
ture of her glorious activities. Perhaps J am wrong in 
this: it is possible that many honest people in America be- 
lieve in the purity of the Russian Government’s intentions 
—but this question is of such importance that it requires 


54 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


special treatment, for which it is necessary to have both 
time and calm of soul. But there is no calm soul in Russia. 

“My task was to point out the horror and the iniquity of 
capital punishment under any circumstances. The horror 
of capital punishment is great when it falls to the lot of 
courageous and honest people whose only guilt is their ex- 
cess love and the sense of righteousness—in such instances, 
conscience revolts. But the rope is still more horrible when 
it forms the noose around the necks of weak and ignorant 
people. And, however strange it may appear, I look with 
a lesser grief and suffering upon the execution of the revo- 
lutionists, such as Werner and Musya, than upon the stran- 
gling of ignorant murderers, miserable in mind and heart, 
like Yanson and Tsiganok. Even the last mad horror of 
inevitably approaching execution Werner can offset by his 
enlightened mind and his iron will, and Musya, by her 
purity and her innocence. .. . 

“But how are the weak and the sinful to face it if not in 
madness, with the most violent shock to the very founda- 
tion of their souls? And these people, now that the Gov- 
ernment has steadied its hands through its experience with 
the revolutionists, are being hanged throughout Russia—in 
some places one at a time, in others, ten at once. Children 
at play come upon badly buried bodies, and the crowds 
which gather look with horror upon the peasants’ boots that 
are sticking out of the ground; prosecutors who have wit- 
nessed these executions are becoming insane and are taken 
away to hospitals—while the people are being hanged— 
hanged. 

“T am deeply grateful to you for the task you have un- 
dertaken in translating this sad story. Knowing the sensi- 
tiveness of the American people, who at one time sent 


LEONID ANDREYEV 55 


across the ocean, steamers full of bread for famine-stricken 
Russia, I am convinced that in this case our people in their 
misery and bitterness will also find understanding and sym- 
pathy. And if my truthful story about seven of the thou- 
sands who were hanged will help toward destroying at 
least one of the barriers which separate one nation from 
another, one human being from another, one soul from an- 
other soul, I shall consider myself happy.” 


ELIE METCHNIKOFF 


St. Petersburg, June, 1900. 


Ir was at the dinner table of Count Sergius Witte that I 
learned that Elie Metchnikoff, the world’s foremost biolo- 
gist, head of the Pasteur Institute, was in Russia. The 
St. Petersburg newspapers did not mention for three days 
that Russia’s greatest scientist had come to visit Russia 
after an absence of many years, during which he had be- 
come famous throughout the world. 

“Metchnikoff came to St. Petersburg quietly, unheralded. 
He has been in this city three days now, and none but 
some of his immediate friends know about it. He dined 
with us yesterday and will be here again this evening,” 
Count Witte said to me. 

Countess Witte spoke of Metchnikoff’s modesty, of his 
tenderness, and of the simple life the Metchnikoffs were 
leading near Paris. The ex-Premier of Russia commented 
upon the meagre income of the world’s greatest scientist, 
remarking that if Metchnikoff did not have his little estate 
in Russia, it would have been difficult for him to make 
ends meet on the salary he was receiving as head of the 
Pasteur Institute. 

“When you meet Metchnikoff, do not speak to him about 
Russian politics. He has strange views on the subject,” 
Count Witte warned me. ' 

When the newspapers discovered that Metchnikoff was 
in St. Petersburg, all the news of the day suddenly shrank 


into insignificance, and from that day until the day of his 
56 


ELIE METCHNIKOFF 57 


return to France Metchnikoff held the attention of all 
Russia. Not even the official reports that flooded the news- 
papers about the meeting of Kaiser Wilhelm and the Czar 
in the Finnish waters interested the Russian people so 
much as the visit of Metchnikoff. When it was learned 
that the great student of the human body had decided upon 
a pilgrimage to the great student of the human soul, Tol- 
stoy, the press was occupied almost exclusively with the 
meeting of the two monarchs of universal literature and 
science, Leo J, and Elie I, Tolstoy and Metchnikoff. The 
little village in the Government of Tula, Yasnaya Poly- 
ana, and not the Standart, the imperial yacht on which the 
Kaiser and the Czar met, held the center of the stage in 
chaotic Russia. This was the most effective rebuke to 
the Russian Government that had forced Tolstoy to seclude 
himself in Yasnaya Polyana, and Metchnikoff to seek and 
grace another fatherland. 

Prof. Metchnikoff received me in the house of his friends, 
on Malaya Spasskaya, at 10 o’clock in the morning. 

“T have just been tortured by the photographer,’’ Metch- 
nikoff said to me good-naturedly. “I don’t like these 
forced poses.” | 

“This is one of the penalties of fame,’’ I remarked. 

“Very true,” he said, wiping his glasses and smiling 
broadly. 

Metchnikoff, the man who has devoted his life to study- 
ing the problems of how to make mankind happy by com- 
bating and wiping out the most dreadful diseases, and who 
writes his scientific treatises in a simple and vivid style 
that many a famous novelist might envy, is indeed, in 
whatever he says and does, so radiant and brimful of the 
joy of living that he may be styled an apostle of optimism. 


58 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Commenting on the changes he found in Russia, Metch- 
nikoff said: “I find the most hopeful signs in the educa- 
tional institutions. A few years ago the youth of Russia 
was occupied exclusively with politics. The universities 
were not institutions of learning, but arenas for political 
activities. After the storm of 1905 a reaction has set in. 
The youth of Russia has returned to the more serious prob- 
lems that confront mankind. It has abandoned politics 
and is studying human nature and life. The universities 
and laboratories are again crowded with young people 
thirsting for knowledge. While I was a student there were 
two strong currents struggling against each other among 
the Russian youth. On one side was the educational move- 
ment, which forced its way into Russia from Western 
Europe. Many of us turned to science with enthusiasm, 
believing that the salvation of Russia lay in that direction. 

“On the other side the revolutionary propaganda car- 
ried away many of the best young minds, which were thus 
lost to science. I went through that stage myself. I re- 
member one incident particularly well. When I was a 
gymnasium student, about 16 or 17 years of age, I re- 
ceived a letter from abroad in which I was urged not to be 
satisfied under any circumstances with a constitutional mon- 
archy, but to demand immediately and insist that Russia 
shall be a republic. After the assassination of Alexander 
IJ, it was impossible to continue any serious work in the 
Russian universities, and it was then that I understood that 
the youth of Russia could do more for Russia by devoting 
itself to education rather than to politics. I am glad to 
see that there are at present signs pointing to a normal con- 
dition in the educational institutions.” 

I asked Prof. Metchnikoff about his work. 


ELIE METCHNIKOFF 59 


“First of all,” he said, “I am glad to inform you that I 
have just received a letter from Paris telling me that the 
Pasteur Institute has come into a fortune which will enable 
us to carry on our work on a larger scale than before. 
Osiris, the Jewish banker, who died in February, 1907, left 
40,000,000 francs to the Pasteur Institute, and now the 
formalities connected with the gift are at anend. By this 
donation Osiris made himself one of the great benefactors 
of mankind.” 

“Osiris, as far as is generally known, never took any 
interest in philanthropic or educational institutions. He 
had the reputation of a miser. Can you tell me something 
about the man?” I asked. 

“Osiris was indeed a very strange personality. He was 
a Bordeaux Jew, became a widower early in life, and had 
very few near relatives. After he had amassed his great 
fortune he became interested in archaeology. He went to 
Egypt with an archaeological expedition and brought some 
valuable objects from there. Osiris was not his real name. 
His name was Iffla, but he called himself Osiris in honor 
of the most popular of Egyptian gods—the god of light 
and health. | 

‘At first he wanted to give his fortune to the French 
Government. He purchased a large number of Napoleonic 
relics and the house in which Napoleon lived, and wanted 
to turn it into a museum. But he met with so many ob- 
stacles in the shape of formalities and the attitude of the 
government toward him was so cold that he became dis- 
gusted. 

“Tt was then that some one advised him to donate his 
fortune to the Pasteur Institute. A few months before his 
death he became ill and invited Prof. Roux of the Pasteur 


60 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Institute. He then informed him that he was planning to 
leave his fortune to the Institute, and asked that the in- 
terest—600,000 francs annually—be used especially for in- 
vestigations of tuberculosis and cancer. One of the con- 
ditions was that Prof. Roux and I visit him daily during 
his illness. He was a very peculiar man. His reputation 
as miser was well deserved. I recall a little incident dur- 
ing the time that I visited him when he was ill. The 
physicians had prescribed for Osiris a portion of ice cream 
three times daily. Osiris was greatly disturbed by this 
prescription and he complained to me. 

“Where will I get the means for such luxuries? I 
can’t afford to have ice cream three times a day.’ 

“He had no electricity in his house, but used candles in- 
stead, for the sake of economy. A niece of his, a very poor 
girl, came to him one day and asked him to assist her. 
Though she was penniless, Osiris refused. But when he 
learned several months later that she had gone on the stage 
he sent for her and, praising her for having found work, 
gave her an allowance of 200 francs a month, and left her 
a small fortune when he died, in February, 1907, at the 
age of 82. He was almost a legendary figure, peculiar in 
every way. In our case the formalities connected with his 
donation were entangled for two years, and I am glad 
that they are at an end at last. The Institute has already 
expanded as a result of his gift. We have bought another 
building which is to be used as a department for tropical 
diseases. Special investigations will be made of the so- 
called ‘sleeping sickness.’ ” 

“May I know whether you are pleased with the results 
of your recent investigations concerning premature senil- 
ity?” I asked. 


ELIE METCHNIKOFF 61 


“We are working all along in this direction in the hope 
of finding the most effective remedy for premature senility. 
I am convinced the main cause of our growing old too fast 
lies in the microbes within the intestinal canal. All our 
efforts are therefore directed against these suas iis which 
we are endeavoring to fight.” 

Prof. Metchnikoff touched his gray beard with his fingers 
and said lightly: 

“T am only 64 years old, and yet see how gray my beard 
is. I look much older than I really am. This should not 
be. People will attain happiness only when they will grow 
old naturally, not as they now grow old without years, and 
when they will be able to use all their faculties, without 
suffering or pain, until the time sets in for their natural 
death. As I have pointed out in my introduction to the 
Russian edition of my ‘Studies in Optimism,’ science brings 
happiness to mankind. The relief that medical science 
brings to suffering humanity should not be regarded as 
merely a negative ideal. The absence of suffering, which 
means that man can make use of his perfect health, con- 
stitutes a very positive ideal, which is appreciated all the 
more as the years go by, and which makes it possible for 
man to avail himself of the other advantages of life. 

“The idea, which has become rather popular, that the 
animal is happier than the human being is erroneous. Of 
course, it is difficult to solve this question with any degree 
of certainty, because it is impossible to compare the feel- 
ings and the sensations of animals and human beings. But 
we can compare the different feelings and sensations of 
man himself. We know that to many people the happiness 
afforded by science and the solution of scientific problems 
is undoubtedly higher than the happiness which animals are 


62 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


capable of feeling and which is attained by them through 
satisfying their hunger or other requirements. The con- 
sciousness of inevitable death, which animals have not, 
and which often makes man so unhappy, is an evil that 
can be remedied, that will be remedied by science. 

“Tt is more than likely that science will teach us to live 
in accordance with the principles of orthobiotics, and will 
lead life to the moment of the approach of the instinct of 
natural death, when there will be no longer the fear of the 
inevitability of the end. Science can and must in the fu- 
ture give to mankind a happy existence. When science 
will have secured for mankind a normal cycle of life, when 
the people will forget the majority of diseases, even as they 
need not worry so much about the plague, cholera, diph- 
theria, rabies, and other scourges that threatened them until 
recently, then the efforts of gratifying the higher require- 
ments of spiritual life will come to the front even more 
than now. But together with the quest after knowledge 
for the sake of the highest pleasure, that is, together with 
‘science for science’s sake,’ mankind will then even more 
than now seek happiness in the pleasure afforded by all 
kinds of beauty, that is by ‘art for art’s sake.’ ” 

In speaking of his critics, Prof. Metchnikoff said: 

“It may seem strange, but it is a fact, nevertheless. My 
own countrymen, the Russians, have been my harshest 
critics. Among others, K. K. Tolstoy, attempted to at- 
tack my theories, and especially my statements regarding 
the use of sour milk bacteria for hindering the decay of 
the intestines. He keeps repeating that I advise everybody 
to use sour milk simply because I was attracted by some 
foodstuff that appealed to me. 

“As a matter of fact, I caution people against the con- 


ELIE METCHNIKOFF 63 


stant use of sour milk because, together with the helpful 
and useful microbes, it frequently contains also undesirable 
microbes. He argues that instead of the curdled milk 
other things may be used, such as raw fruits, cider vine- 
gar, and even light wine, and that these would produce the 
same effect. But I have explained very carefully in my 
works that it is not merely a question of swallowing acids, 
for they are absorbed before they reach the heavy intestines. 
And that is just where they are needed in order to offset the 
destructive bacteria. That is why I advise the use of live 
pure sour milk bacteria cultures in boiled milk, which reach 
the proper place alive and hinder the decay of the in- 
testine. This has been established beyond any doubt.” 

I asked Prof. Metchnikoff whether progress had been 
made in the investigation of tuberculosis by the Pasteur 
Institute. 

“The experiments with preventative inoculation have 
not proved successful. But even the simplest measures 
adopted in France against the spread of the disease have 
been very helpful. Thus, such things as isolating the chil- 
dren of tuberculous parents and separating the consump- 
tives in the advanced stages of the disease from those in 
the less advanced stages, have already shown good results. 
The number of consumptives is decreasing in France.” 

“T see that they have started an energetic campaign 
against tuberculosis in America,” Prof. Metchnikoff added 
after a while. 

“What is your opinion of American scientists?” I asked. 

“Tt seems to me that Americans are rather fond of sensa- 
tionalism even in their science. When my volume ‘Studies 
in Optimism’ appeared in English it was called “The Pro- 
longation of Life.’ I cannot understand why the title 


64 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


should have been changed. But that is not important. I 
have the greatest respect for American scientists. 

‘America has produced in recent years a number of first- 
class scientists. Jacques Loeb is perhaps the most impor- 
tant of them. I can foresee the time when America will 
outshine Europe by her scientists. I believe it is unfair 
to the American people that they are regarded everywhere 
in Europe as good business men only. As soon as a man 
shows any signs of talent here, the Americans try to at- 
tract him to America, and as they are richer and have more 
means for carrying on experimental scientific work, they 
secure our best men. It will not be long before our best 
scientists will be in America.” 

“When are you coming to America, Professor?” 

“T am afraid the voyage across the ocean will not agree 
with me,” he answered with a smile. 

Prof. Metchnikoff then spoke with great enthusiasm 
about the “grand old man’”’ of Russia and his prospective 
visit to Yasnaya Polyana. 

“JT have always looked forward with the greatest pleas- 
ure and reverence to a meeting with Tolstoy, and I am 
happy that my hope is about to be fulfilled now.” 

Upon my request for some facts concerning his biogra- 
phy, Prof. Metchnikoff said: 

“TI was born in 1845, in the Government of Kharkov. I 
am a Little Russian, a son of the steppe. My father was 
an officer of the Guards, who later became a general. My 
mother was a Jewess. I ascribe my love for science to my 
descent from the Jewish race. I studied natural science 
at the gymnasium and the university in Russia. Later I 
studied zoology and biology in Germany and Italy. JI was 
professor in St. Petersburg and Odessa. After the assassi- 


ELIE METCHNIKOFF 65 


nation of Alexander II, I found that it was impossible to 
do any serious work at the university because of the politi- 
cal tendencies that crowded out the desire for study among 
the youth. Soon the Russian universities had no serious 
professors, and some of the best men in Russia who could 
achieve much for their fatherland were lost to Russia. 
I am speaking of the Russian Jews. The Russians have 
the mind, but the Russian Jews have in addition to that 
vivacity and energy to a remarkable degree. Russia has 
lost many great talents by persecuting the Jews. Prof. 
Minkowsky, the great mathematician, was a Russian Jew 
who had to leave Russia simply because he was a Jew. 
The same was true of the other Minkowsky. My own as- 
sistants, Bezredka and Weinberg, are men of great talent, 
and I am sure that they will be shining lights in the scien- 
tific world. But as they are Jews, they could not develop 
in Russia, and Russia has lost them.” 

Metchnikoff paused for a while and added optimistically: 

“T feel quite certain that there will be a change even in 
this. The Russian Government will realize its errors and 
will improve the condition of the Jewish people, for its 
own sake, if for no other reason.” . 

Paris, 1909. 

I met Prof. Metchnikoff again in Paris after his visit 
to Yasnaya Polyana. He received me in his laboratory 
at the Pasteur Institute. 

“T am delighted with my visit to Tolstoy,” he said. “TI 
must confess that I never expected he was such a splendid 
man. He is really wonderful. His feelings, his heart, are 
developed to the highest degree of sensitiveness and 
delicacy.” 

“Did you discuss his works with him?” 


66 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“Yes, I told him that I value his purely literary work 
more than his philosophical work. Tolstoy replied that he 
considered his philosophical work of more importance than 
his artistic work. He said that it was very easy for him to 
produce his artistic work, while his philosophical work 
proved more difficult, and it was for this reason that he 
loved it all the more. We spoke about religion and science. 
He took a deep interest in my work and was particularly 
eager to have me tell him what I knew about cancer. We 
walked in his garden and I picked out some leaves with 
wart-like growths upon them, and he was very much inter- 
ested in my explanations of these growths. In speaking of 
religion and science, he said that people were wrong in be- 
lieving him to be opposed to religion or science. What 
he opposed, he said, was the hypocrisy and the falsehood 
that the Church had introduced into religion. As for 
science, Tolstoy said that he opposed the narrow-minded 
so-called scientists who believed that, having made some 
small discovery, they should be considered as superior peo- 
ple—benefactors and teachers of mankind.” 

“May I know your own views on religion?” 

“T am an atheist, as you will see from my ‘Studies in 
Optimism.’ The fact that the majority of the people be- 
lieve in God and in future existence is based not upon re- 
ligious instinct but may be explained by the influence of 
education. That is why we often see that people who in 
their childhood believed in what they had been trained to 
believe, in time lose their faith in those things as their minds 
develop.” 

“T understand that you expressed yourself very strongly 
about the inferiority of women while you were in Russia. 
May I know your views on this subject?” 


ELIE METCHNIKOFF 67 


“Women are superior to men—in affairs of the heart,” 
said Prof. Metchnikoff, with a smile. ‘‘Genius, I believe, 
is a masculine quality, just as a beard is, for instance, or 
as strong muscles are. That women are inferior to men 
they have demonstrated most effectively in the domains 
where they have always reigned supreme—music and cook- 
ing. Women have not produced a single composer of note, 
and even in the kitchen they have not been able to maintain 
their supremacy. If they want a good chef they get a man. 
Of course I am not opposed to women studying the arts 
and sciences, but I do not believe that women will ever 
amount to much as scientists. I need hardly say that there 
are exceptions, just as there are bearded ladies, but at any 
rate, they are superior to men in affairs of the heart, and 
that is a great deal. As for women scientists, it is better 
that they occupy themselves with science than with 
fashions.” 

Before leaving, Prof. Metchnikoff presented me with a 
set of his works in Russian. 

“Do you think that a reading of ‘Studies in Optimism’ 
will help to prolong life, Professor?” I asked. 

“It may shorten your days during your voyage across the 
Atlantic if you have nothing else to read,’ he laughed. 

When I left the Pasteur Institute I carried away a deep 
impression of a strong, simple, lovable personality, an 
apostle of optimism, who has made a religion of science 
even as Tolstoy has made a science of religion. 


MAXIME KOVALEVSKY 


St. Petersburg, 1909. 

DurRiNc my present visit to Russia I had occasion to discuss 
Russian affairs with the leaders of the various parties in the 
Duma and with members of the Gosundarstvenny Sovyet 
—the Council of the Empire. J found among them a num- 
ber of people who are undoubtedly able to accomplish great 
things when the psychological moment arrives. But it 
seemed the time for their activity had not yet come. 
These people, intellectual giants, equipped with great learn- 
ing and earnestness of purpose, are architect-builders who 
are able to erect structures according to beautiful projects, 
but not before the ground has been cleared. 

They are as yet surrounded with windfallen trees in a 
very thick forest. ‘The distance is enormous between the 
so-called Parliament in St. Petersburg and the millions of 
the ignorant masses, who are enmeshed in a dense net of 
government organs and agencies, especially created to keep 
them in darkness. 

As a prominent member of the Duma said tome: “The 
Russian Constitution is to be found solely upon a tiny- 
island—the Tavrichesky Palace—the building where the 
Duma holds its sessions. The autocracy does not allow the 
Constitution to go beyond the walls of this palace.” The 
conceptions of Czarism and constitutionalism are incompat- 
ible. There are provincial places in Russia, not so very 
far from St. Petersburg, where it is still dangerous to speak 


of the Duma, for some official might overhear it and ask: 
68 


MAXIME KOVALEVSKY 69 


“Are you for the Czar or for the Duma?’ But a short 
time ago in one of the Cossack settlements in the Don re- 
gion, a crowd listening to the reading of news from the 
Duma was dispersed with whips. 

But the distance between those who worked for the 
emancipation of Russia and the masses is narrowing—the 
people have begun to realize who are their enemies and 
who their friends. | 

One of the greatest of the architect-builders of the new 
Russia is Prof. Maxime Kovalevsky, famous historian, 
authority upon international law, publicist, formerly pro- 
fessor of the University of Paris, now a member of the 
Council of the Empire. Prof. Kovalevsky is one of the 
very few great figures in Russia who perceive clearly the 
actual proportion and importance of events and who an- 
alyze them without either going into raptures or falling 
into despair. A scholar of the highest type, he is at the 
same time a practical statesman taking an active part in 
the preparatory work of Russia’s reconstruction. His opin- 
ions upon the Russian situation are accordingly of the 
greatest significance. Prof. Kovalevsky presented his 
views to me as follows: } 

“The dispersion of the first two Dumas has created a 
spirit of skepticism among the people. And while the old 
peasants still remain faithful to God and the Russian Czar, 
the majority of the young people have come to the conclu- 
sion that everything must be taken by force. In fact, they 
have become a little too violent. 

“Looking over the legislation of the Third Duma I must 
say that it has not shown any necessary economy. The 
budgets have not been diminished. The Duma, however, 
was wrong in refusing an appropriation for the four battle- 


7O THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ships. Our fortresses at Revel and at Kronstadt are not 
efficient. They could not withstand an attack for more 
than three weeks. The four men-of-war we are to have 
now will be of the same type as the Dreadnaughts and will 
constitute to a certain extent a defense in the event of an 
invasion by Germany. 

“You ask me why has the Russian revolution failed? I 
begin by denying the fact. My opinion is that it has not 
failed, but is going on at the present time, and, if some 
are despairing, it is because they do not realize the real na- 
ture of the movement. The movement is far from being 
only political—it is essentially social. It began years ago, 
and its chief result will be the creation of a Russian de- 
mocracy. Centuries ago Harrington, in his ‘Oceana,’ ex- 
pressed the idea, new for his time, that power belongs to 
those who own the land. Now Russian soil is rapidly pass- 
ing into the hands of the peasants. The first Duma in- 
tended to accelerate the movement through legislation. 
The reaction which followed was chiefly created by the 
fact that Russian nobility was frightened by the radicalism 
of the measures proposed. 

“But the movement, which has for its ends the transfer- 
ence of the land into the hands of the peasants is none the 
less going on, perhaps more rapidly than before. The 
Ministers, with M. Stolypin at their head, are buying the 
lands of ruined noblemen in order to resell them at lower 
prices to the peasants. ‘This measure is certainly more 
ruinous to the Russian treasury than the one we had in 
view, but it achieves the same end. The dissolution of 
village communities—another obnoxious measure of the 
same Ministry—is yet on the whole advancing the day of 
democratic rising; upon one side it creates a numerous class 


MAXIME KOVALEVSKY ail 


of peasant proprietors, and upon the other, a much more 
numerous class of rural proletariats. A collision between 
them becomes every day more probable. 

“Our industries are unable to employ all those who, hav- 
ing no more settled interest in the land, are deserting the 
villages. And Russian agriculture is not likely to become 
a secondary branch of our national economy. In such con- 
ditions the rising of the country people in the near future 
seems to me very probable, and all I hear from persons liv- 
ing in the country only confirms my apprehension. The 
peasant is losing his confidence in the Czar as the natural 
protector of the country people against the landed squires. 
The orthodox church is each day losing even more its moral 
hold upon the people, because of its total lack of inde- 
pendence from civil authority and the nobility. The 
radical Protestant sects, such as the Dukhobors, the Men- 
nonites, the Stundists (Baptists), are gaining every day 
new adherents among the peasantry. All this is not cal- 
culated to suggest the idea that we have not to fear in the 
future a new agrarian movement. And for that reason | 
answer in the affirmative your question. Do I think that 
the agrarian question will lead to new disturbances in the 
near future? Yes, I am afraid it will. 

“In the spontaneous revolution which shall have for its 
chief object the creation of a peasant democracy instead of 
a military empire, reliant upon bureaucracy, nobility and 
orthodoxy, the Third Duma is likely to play a prominent 
part, in this way only—it will open the eyes of the peasants 
to the dependence in which Czardom lives upon bureau- 
cracy, high orthodox clergy and landed gentry. I find no 
instance in the past of a more cynical pursuit of class in- 
terests than the one of which the Third Duma is, and will 


72 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


continue to be, the spectacle. From this point of view it 
may be compared only with the ‘chambre introuvable’ of 
the French restoration. The Ministry is powerless to pur- 
sue its own policy. It does what it is ordered to do by the 
reactionary alliance of ‘king, bishop and nobleman.’ To 
give you an instance. We were told (Stakhovitch, Ar- 
seniev and myself) by Premier Stolypin that he would do 
everything he could to render possible a collection of money 
in the whole empire to be employed for the creation of 
some memorial associated with the name of Count Leo 
Tolstoy—and the same Stolypin later took rigorous 
measures to prevent any demonstration in favor of our 
‘grand old man.’ Of course, he did so against his own 
will and only because he was ordered to do so by the ortho- 
dox clergy and the ‘Real Russians,’ who find a hearing at 
the Court. 

“T see, therefore, no reason to expect that the ‘Govern- 
ment’ will do anything in favor of the Jews, except propa- 
gating the myth that, once emancipated, the Jews are cer- 
tain to. be exterminated by the peasantry. I call this a 
myth, because neither at St. Petersburg, Moscow nor in the 
province of Kharkov, where I own land, have I ever dis- 
covered the hatred which the workman and the villager 
are supposed to entertain against the Jews. 

“You ask me what influence the events in Persia and 
Turkey are likely to exercise upon Russian affairs. I sup- 
pose they will induce the governing class—I mean the Court 
and the high bureaucracy—to maintain the present state of 
things—I mean a Duma composed of persons devoted to 
the interests of the minority of noblemen, high churchmen 
and landed squires. 

“The Russian Government is, to say the least, full of the 


MAXIME KOVALEVSKY 73 


most amazing inconsistencies. Thus, for instance, the 
authors of articles distasteful to the Government are not 
punished—only the publishers of such articles are prose- 
cuted. Leo Tolstoy is not prosecuted for his writings, but 
his son, who publishes them, is punished. If the Govern- 
ment were consistent the signers of the Viborg manifesto, 
the Deputies of the First Duma who are now in prison, 
should not have been prosecuted. They were merely the 
authors of that document. 

“How I regard the condition of Russian literature? 
This question is more difficult to answer. Periods of transi- 
tion, such as the one we are experiencing now in Russia, are 
not as a rule golden ages of literature. Why so? The 
riddle, if there is one, was disclosed to me at one time by 
Turgenev. I was insisting upon his writing a new novel, 
in which the men of my generation would be pictured. 
‘It cannot be done,’ he answered. ‘It is impossible to give 
a definite form in literature to persons and things which 
have not yet taken a definite form in life.’ Applying this 
aphorism to the present state of our literature I am inclined 
to think that our young authors do not find it easy to create 
new types, with two exceptions, that of the ‘hooligan,’ so 
admirably represented by Gorky and Arzibashev, and of 
the social reformer and agitator of whom you will find a 
less successful picture in Gorky’s novel, “The Mother.’ 

“It is to the same cause, the want of definite form charac- 
terizing our present evolution, that I attribute the great de- 
velopment of lyrics. We have several dozens of young 
poets who seek new forms and new symbols. Some of 
them, such as Balmont and Valeri Brussov, have given ex- 
cellent translations of Shelley, Calderon and Lope de Vega, 
and have written admirable verses of their own, verses that 


74 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


are comparable with those of our great Pushkin. In this 
our revolutionary period reminds me of that of 1789-1800 
in France, when the greatest writer (Andre Chenier) was 
great on account of his lyrical verses and not of his novels. 
We no doubt possess at this moment young writers who will 
be highly appreciated in some ten or twenty years, but who 
so far have not given, as the Frenchmen say, ‘toute la 
mesure de leur talent.’ ” 


SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM 


Constantinople, June, 1909. 

Bur a short time ago there existed a saying in Turkey that 
the Sultan is the shadow of God on earth, and that the 
shadow of the Sultan is the Sheikh-ul-Islam, the religious 
head of all the Moslems. When in April, by order of the 
famous Fetwa, presided over by the Sheikh-ul-Islam, Abdul 
Hamid was deposed, the new Sultan, though very popular 
with the people, ceased to be the shadow of God on earth. 
The circumstances under which he has been proclaimed 
Khalif of the Ottoman Empire have made him a mere 
figurehead. 

The Parliament, or rather the Union and Progress Com- 
mittee of the Young Turks, is for the present the almighty 
power in the land. But there is one man whose authority 
has increased with the decline of the Sultan’s power, and 
that man is the Sheikh-ul-Islam. Indeed those who know 
Turkey intimately, are of the opinion that his authority 
is even greater than that of the Parliament, for while the 
Parliament has at present the support of the army, the 
Sheikh-ul-Islam has the masses behind him—the blindly 
believing, fanatic hordes, headed by the hodjas, the Turk- 
ish priests, who exert a tremendous influence upon their 
followers, and who have on numerous occasions demon- 
strated their readiness to urge the massacre of those who 
oppose Islam. 

Who knows what would happen, what horrors would be 
perpetrated, what outrages committed, and what bloodshed 

75 


76 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


caused, if for some reason or another the Parliament and 
the Sheikh-ul-Islam should clash? The people of Turkey 
are afraid even to speak of it. But the wisest minds of 
the Ottoman Empire realize the danger of irritating Islam 
at the present time, and, therefore, many reforms must wait 
for the opportune moment, when they may be introduced 
without shocking the religious sensibilities of the Moslems. 

It is for these reasons that of all the Turkish statesmen 
I was particularly eager to meet the Sheikh-ul-Islam and 
to learn from his own lips whether a bridge can really be 
built between Mecca and the Parliament and whether the 
Constitution does not clash with the Koran. 

The opportunity of securing an audience with the 
Sheikh, the chief of the Moslems, presented itself to me 
in the Yildiz, the palace of the deposed Sultan, which has 
now been thrown open to the public. On Friday, after 
the Selamlik, when the first concert was given for the benefit 
of the public at the Yildiz, the occasion was turned into a 
merry festival and a day of great rejoicing. The saviors 
of the constitution were proudly walking up and down the 
beautiful alleys of the park, and the people were rowing 
in the boats which a few months ago had been used by Ab- 
dul Hamid. A band was playing and singing patriotic 
songs, and the words of the songs, as well as the melodies, 
though old, seemed to carry a new meaning to the people, 
who cheered and applauded wildly. It was amid these 
surroundings that I made the acquaintance of the son of 
the Sheikh-ul-Islam. With him was Col. Galib Bey, the 
head of the gendarmerie, one of the heroes of the new 
régime and one of the three men chosen to notify Abdul 
Hamid that he had been deposed. 

Upon my inquiry whether it would be possible for me to 


SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM “- 


secure an audience with the Sheikh-ul-Islam, his son ex- 
tended to me an invitation to the Islamate for the follow 
ing day. | 

It was about 10 o’clock in the morning when I started 
in a carriage from Pera to Stambul. The narrow, crooked, 
filthy streets of Constantinople were crowded with pedes- 
trians in parti-colored gowns and turbans, the women wear- 
ing chiefly the charchafs, black dresses, their faces covered 
with black veils—all walking in the middle of the streets. 
A jarring noise hung continuously in the air. People were 
crying their wares in desperate tones, little donkeys carry- 
ing heavy and bulky burdens were braying plaintively, 
and from time to time a dog barked lazily. 

We neared the tower of Stambul, and as it was some- 
what too early to go over to the Islamate, I entered the 
Sulieman Mosque nearby. It was a mercilessly hot day, 
but within the mosque it was very cool. On the floor, in 
one of the corners, sat a group of four softas, theological 
students, and, swaying backward and forward, studied 
the Koran. ‘They were reading softly, in a sing-song, but 
the extraordinary acoustics carried their voices from one 
corner of the tremendous building to the other. A little 
distance away from the students several men lay out- 
stretched on the floor, fast asleep. These were workmen 
who had come to the Mosque in quest of shelter from the 
heat. Men in picturesque garb walked in and, turning 
toward the direction of the sun, knelt, kissed the matted 
floor, and prayed fervently. Suddenly the shrill voice of 
a little boy studying the Koran by heart resounded. He 
swayed backward and forward with dizzying rapidity. 
Near him a Turkish army officer, his sword, his coat, and 
shoes removed and placed in a heap at his side, sat on the 


78 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ground, also studying the Koran. The workmen, some 
twenty-five or thirty in number, were sleeping, undisturbed 
by the sing-song of the students. Now and then one of 
the workmen would stretch himself, rise slowly and walk 
out, yawning. 

I started from the Mosque to the house of the Sheikh-ul- 
Islam. The square was crowded with beggars, cripples of 
all kinds side by side with strong, strapping men, seated 
on the ground with outstretched hands. A woman clad in 
black, her face veiled, dropped a coin into the hand of one 
beggar, made a few steps forward, then paused. The 
happy recipient of the coin bowed his head in gratitude. 
Suddenly the woman, surrounded by a crowd of beggars, 
young and old, walked up to the man on the ground and 
shouted: 

“Pray, you rascal! Why don’t you pray?” 

And he rattled off a prayer mechanically in a tone that 
sounded like a sob. 

Near the beggars lay clusters of yellow dogs—one of 
the most characteristic features of the streets of Constanti- 
nople, the dogs having been aptly styled the Street Cleaning 
Department of the Capital of Turkey. 

The headquarters of the Islamate consists of several large, 
low, yellow-colored buildings. At the entrance of the yard 
men are selling beads and cakes. In the hallways of the 
building where the religious head of the nation attends to 
the business of Islam, hodjas in fine cloaks and underlings 
in tattered clothes, and old women in black, chiefly widows 
of priests, are lounging around the walls, in various posi- 
tions, waiting for their monthly allowances and pensions. 

My companion, a young Turk, a former schoolmate of 
the Sheikh-ul-Islam’s son, led the way to the old Turk who 


SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM 79 


took my card to the Sheikh, eying us suspiciously. In the 
corridor we had to remove our shoes and put on huge 
slippers. The priests and the women walked about in their 
stockings. 

Two minutes later I found myself in the presence of the 
man who guides the destinies of Islam. 

The new Sheikh, whose name is Sahib Molla Effendi, 
and who before his appointment to this highest post had 
been a member of the Council of the Empire, admired by 
those who know him for his liberal views, for which he was 
hated and persecuted by Abdul Hamid, is a tall, white- 
haired man of about sixty-five. He wore a white turban 
on his head and a loose brown cloak. His white beard was 
beautifully shaped, and his remarkably youthful and 
searching eyes were smiling from under his large jet-black 
eyebrows. He rose when we entered and stretched out his 
hand. 

“My son spoke to me about you. I am very glad to 
meet you,” he said warmly, pointing to a seat on the lounge 
opposite him. 

My young companion kissed the Sheikh’s hand and made 
a low bow. When we took our seats, the Sheikh bowed 
to us again, as is the custom in Turkey. 

“I am glad to make the acquaintance of the Sheikh-ul- 
Islam of new Turkey,” I said. 

The Sheikh smiled, bowed low, and answered: 

“Turkey is going through a crisis now. There is a 
dearth of men—of strong, great men. I realize that this 
high office needs a greater man than I am.” 

He paused for awhile. Then he added: 

“I know quite well that I have been selected by the 
Sultan not because I am the right man for the post, but 


So THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


rather because there are so few real men in Turkey at 
present.” 

An old Turk entered and whispered something to the 
Sheikh. The Sheikh then turned to us and said: 

“You will forgive me, I hope, if I will receive a few 
people here and attend to some pressing affairs. It will 
take but a few minutes, and then we can speak without 
being disturbed.” 

The Sheikh rang the bell and ordered that tea be brought 
in. He poured it into small glasses himself, sweetened 
it, and handed me one of the glasses. 

In the meantime a white-haired hodja entered, kissed the 
Sheikh’s hand and, not daring to sit down in the chair near 
the Sheikh’s low table, bent down toward the Sheikh, 
speaking softly, in a cringing tone. The burden of his re- 
quest was that his pension be given to him regularly. 

“Allah knows my pension is small enough, and now I 
am not getting it all,” he said tearfully. 

The Sheikh lifted his hand to his lips quickly and 
whispered tenderly: 

“Hush! You must not speak of such matters in this 
way. Everything is being straightened out now. [I shall 
see to it that your pension will be given to you regularly 
henceforth.” 

The old priest sank down to the ground, kissed the hem 
of the Sheikh’s cloak, and stepped out of the room back- 
ward, bowing reverently. 

One after another a half dozen men came in. Some 
had come to ask the Sheikh to promote them, another begged 
to be transferred to a district closer to Constantinople. I 
had seen the priest who wished to be transferred, a while 
before in the corridor. His black robe was of the finest 


SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM 81 


cloth and on his head was a beautiful turban. In the cor- 
ridor he stood alone, away from the crowd, his pose be- 
speaking an air of haughtiness, a look of sternness in his 
eyes. Now, in the presence of the Sheikh, his tall figure 
contracted and bent down all the while he spoke, an un- 
natural smile played in his eyes and on his lips as he cringed 
and kissed the Sheikh’s hand, kneeling before him and kiss- 
ing the hem of his cloak. 

The Sheikh settled the various questions with a smile, a 
word or two, and a stroke of the pen. 

Finally, he turned to me, his face beaming with smiles, 
as he said: 

“Now, we shall not be disturbed. J am glad, indeed, 
that you have come to see me. ‘There is nothing better on 
earth than to come and see the truth with one’s own eyes, 
instead of believing in hearsay. Especially is this true of 
Turkey, now more than ever before. 

“Unfortunately so much is being written about us by 
people who do not know us and who do not take the pains 
of learning something about us.” 

The first question J asked was whether it was true that 
according to the Koran there could not be a constitutional 
form of government in Turkey, as the Koran prohibited 
any legislation to emanate from anybody save the Sultan. 

“Why, no, that is all wrong,” replied the Sheikh-ul- 
Islam, with a smile. “The Constitution has grown out of 
our religion. In fact, the Moslem religion orders a con- 
stitutional government. The Koran tells us that the wise 
men of the nation shall come together and decide what is 
best for all the people. Thus it may be said that the Koran 
actually gave birth to the Constitution.” 

He lit a long cigarette and added: 


82 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“The Sultan, of course, is our chief, for our religion tells 
us that a great nation cannot be without a chief.” 

As I sat there I recalled how the former Sheikh-ul-Islam 
had defined the importance of the Khalif. It was at the 
time of the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm to Constantinople and 
the Holy Land. 

“The Sultan is superior to all the other rulers,” said the 
old Sheikh. “The Sultan is God’s representative potentate 
on earth. But as it is impossible for the Sultan to be pres- 
ent everywhere, such rulers as the Kaiser of Germany, the 
King of England, the President of France, and the Presi- 
dent of the United States have been made his assistants. 
Under such circumstances,” declared the Sheikh, “it is not 
proper for the Sultan to be the first to greet the Kaiser.” 

When the Sultan and the Kaiser met, and Abdul Hamid 
stretched out his hand first to greet his royal guest, the 
Sheikh-ul-Islam, who stood at his side, declared in a burst 
of anger: 

“The Sultan is degrading God by degrading himself !” 

The difference in the definitions of the Sultan, as given 
by the former and the present Sheikhs, mirrors the attitude 
of the religious Moslems toward their rulers in the past and 
the present. 

In the following question I asked how Islam looked upon 
people of other faiths and upon non-believers. His an- 
swer came slowly, in measured tones: 

“There is no difference between Mohammedan, Jew, or 
Christian in the eyes of a true Moslem. All are equal. 
The only place where our ways part are at prayer—we go 
to the mosque, while they go to a synagogue or church. In 
fact, as far as we are concerned, our ways need not part 
even then, for we Moslems are at liberty to pray anywhere. 


SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM 83 


We do not make the slightest discrimination against those 
who do not believe as we do. We look upon their goods 
as our goods, and upon their life as our life, and we try to 
protect them in every way. The Moslem who does not 
believe in Moses, the founder of Judaism, and Christ, the 
founder of Christianity, as prophets, is not a true Moslem. 
Of course, Mohammed, who came later than Moses and 
Christ, and who found the world in a dreadful state of de- 
moralization, has improved upon their teachings. Other- 
wise, all the prophets are equal. As for non-believers, we 
feel sorry for them, we pity them, but we do not persecute 
them. Our sympathies are naturally with believers, but 
we are not angry at agnostics. Their conscience is their 
own affair.” 

“Have you written any works on religious subjects?” 
I asked. : : 

“No, I have not written anything. I have never had 
a moment of unoccupied time. I believe it is a sad waste 
of time to write, unless one is sure that he can produce a 
great and useful work.” 

“(May I know who are your favorite writers in Europe?” 

The Sheikh-ul-Islam hesitated. 

“May I know your opinion of the works of such writers 
as Goethe, Voltaire, Tolstoy?’ 

The Sheikh smiled, and it was evident from the expres- 
sion of his face that he had not heard these names before. 

“T have not read their works, for the same reason that 
I have not written any books myself. I have not had 
any unoccupied time. But I am, of course, familiar with 
Arabic literature.” 

I explained to him Tolstoy’s place in modern literature, 
the nature of his latest writings, and the reason why 


84 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


he had been excommunicated by the Russian Church. 

“What would be your attitude toward a Moslem, a 
man of the calibre of Tolstoy, who would criticise Islam?” 
I asked. 

“Our religion is liberal. Our religion is free. Any one 
may write whatever he pleases. We are not afraid. We 
would excommunicate no one for criticising us. We look 
upon the skeptic and non-believer with a sense of compas- 
sion. We feel sorry for our critics, but we have not the 
slightest fear. And do you know why we have no fear? 
No one has yet written a better book than the Koran, nor 
can anybody ever write a better book.” 

In my next question J asked the Sheikh-ul-Islam to ex- 
press himself concerning the rights of the various religious 
heads, such as the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs and the 
Haham Bashi (Grand Rabbi) under the new régime. 

“My position does not permit me to discuss political 
questions,” he said. “Of course, I could enumerate to you 
their rights under the present régime, not in my official 
capacity. But I have not yet familiarized myself suffi- 
ciently with this subject, and it is my rule never to speak 
on anything unless I know it thoroughly.” 

At this point I decided to ask the question to which no 
Turkish statesman is willing to give a frank answer. The 
Young Turks are afraid to commit themselves on the sub- 
ject concerning the amelioration of the condition of women 
in Turkey, realizing that nothing might so arouse the Turk- 
ish masses against the new government as even the mention 
of reform in this direction. 

“Everywhere in Europe and America there are move- 
ments for the emancipation of women. Do you intend to 


SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM 85 


introduce in time any reforms which would tend to improve 
the condition of women in Turkey?” I asked. 

The Sheikh’s large, dark eyes smiled. Then he lowered 
his heavy, black eyebrows over his eyes and, after a pause, 
answered : 

“This is a very important question. The emancipation 
of woman? Ah! that is a most serious problem. But 
do you know? The idea that such reforms are necessary 
has not yet been born in Turkey.” 

“Is it because the men themselves are not yet emanci- 
pated 2” 

“The idea of equalizing the women with the men is not 
yet born in Turkey and will not be born for a long time to 
come. At the present time the character, the customs, and 
habits of our people make it impossible for such ideas to 
develop in our midst.”’ 

“You say, ‘at the present time.’ Do you believe that 
the Parliament will take up this question in the near future 
and introduce reforms in this direction?” 

“T am not so sure that this will ever happen in Turkey,” 
replied the Sheikh slowly. 

“What is your attitude toward Zionism?’ I inquired 
after a while. 

The Sheikh-ul-Islam looked as though he did not under- 
stand my question. So I modified it. 

“How do you look upon the emigration of Jews from 
countries where they are persecuted, such as Russia and 
Roumania, to Palestine?” 

“We regard all people as our equals,” said the Sheikh. 
“We make no discrimination against Jew or Gentile. The 
Jews have always lived comfortably in Turkey, and the 


86 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Moslems like them very much. But as much as we sym- 
pathise with a suffering race, we Moslems treat all people 
equally, and if a large emigration of Jews or Gentiles to 
Palestine would commence, it would become a problem for 
the Parliament to solve. It is certainly not a religious 
question.” 

Suddenly the Sheikh turned the conversation to America 
and Americans, and spoke with great enthusiasm. 

“The Americans are the most progressive people in the 
world,” he said. “They are quick to perceive their oppor- 
tunities, they possess more initiative and energy than any 
other people. Let the American capitalists bring their 
money to Turkey. Turkey is in great need of money just 
now. ‘They would earn great profits and would at the same 
time help us to develop along the lines of liberty. They 
would help us to help ourselves.” 

Just before I left, the Sheikh-ul-Islam said to me: 

“Remember, our religion orders that there shall be a 
constitution. It does not order this form of constitution or 
that. ‘Time may change the constitution and improve it. 
But what is most important, our religion orders liberty, 
and I assure you that Islam will be the protector of 
liberty.” 

After a visit to the various departments of the Islamate 
and to the room where a few months before the Fetwa had 
decided to depose Abdul Hamid, I came out on the street. 
The sun was burning. The beggars and the dogs almost 
covered the square now. ‘The women with their faces cov- 
ered, a mass of black from head to foot, walked slowly, and. 
in passing, some of them dropped coins to the beggars and 
waited for their prayers. 

As I passed the Sulieman Mosque on my way from the 


SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM 87 


Sheikh, I saw new groups of people entering the cool house 
of prayer—to sleep. 

From time to time a wild outcry rent the air, and some 
phlegmatic Turk would bestir himself about his little shop. 
In the distance a Muezzin, stationed on the minaret, was 
calling the faithful Moslems to prayer: 

“Allah is great! Allah is most great!” 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 


Berlin, May, r908. 

Maximitian Harpewn scarcely needs any introduction in 
America. But it may not be generally known that through- 
out Germany the name of Harden has become a household 
word. Among the people at large his name is associated 
with fearlessness and courage and victory. When, after 
his second trial, a crowd of about 5,000 people waited for 
him at the Court House and carried him, amid cheers, on 
their shoulders, it was but an expression, in a small way, 
of the feeling of the masses, who everywhere applauded 
the man who dared to stir up the hornets’ nest, to expose 
the rottenness in the highest places, and who came out 
triumphant. 

Since then the success of Harden and his small but in- 
fluential weekly journal, Die Zukunft, called forth a most 
bitter animosity among Harden’s already numerous ene- 
mies, chiefly inspired by a sense of envy. Men like Harden 
have enthusiastic admirers, but they also make deadly ene- 
mies. ‘Thus Harden has been called by some “the savior 
of Germany,” while by others he is styled “the betrayer of 
the German Empire.” Harden has been compared with 
Couzier and Rochefort, with Girondin and Lasalle, with 
Sainte-Beuve and Taine; he has been called a harlequin and 
a prophet, and his speeches as well as his writings have been 
described as containing “fire and force, thunder and 
lightning.” 

But, whatever Harden may be, one thing is certain—he 

88 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 89 


is the greatest moulder of public opinion in Germany. His 
intimate friendship with Bismarck gave him a peculiar posi- 
tion as a “private authority’ concerning the inner workings 
of politics and statesmanship in Germany as well as in 
other European States. Since the passing of Bismarck, 
Harden has become the centre toward which gravitate all 
German statesman and high officials who for one cause or 
another are discontented. To him they unburden them- 
selves, and Harden himself has been called the prophet of 
discontent. 

His fight against “the Knights of the Round Table” has 
proved successful, even though at the fourth trial, but a 
little while ago, Harden was found guilty and sentenced to 
a fine of 600 marks. The men he accused in his articles in 
Die Zukunft are disgraced and dismissed from office. As 
Harden himself put it: 

“The decisive has happened. The German Emperor 
showed these men the door. Why? This will never be 
‘established’ here. . . . No details are necessary. Can you 
believe that only the articles in Die Zukunft have led to 
this step? Do we live in an empire where the most fa- 
vored gentlemen are driven away because a moderately dis- 
tinguished journal, by no means favored by the Kaiser, 
contained a few articles against them? Are old, intimate 
friends simply thrown out on this account? Is this suf- 
ficient for the Kaiser to say to the representative of the 
former President of the Police Department: ‘You need 
not tell me any more about Eulenberg, Moltke, Hohenau, 
or Lecomte; these are settled. But I want at once a list 
of the others of the Court and the Guards’ ?’”’ 

In his last speech at the trial just closed Harden wound 
up with the following words: 


go THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ce 


. ... When you condemn me, use your judgment, not 
your right, for you have not proved against me the slightest 
euilt. Do it! I have nothing against it. Such things 
must end in this way; such things have always ended thus 
in history. . . . It must always be thus. Do it again, if 
you would take the responsibility upon yourself. Let it 
be known that the Imperial Court has once more tried to 
disgrace Harden and has convicted him again. I only 
wish that the sentence be severe (from your viewpoint 
there can be no question of a fine; such a decision would 
be incomprehensible) and I am sorry that you cannot go 
above the four months’ limit. Imprison me, brand me, 
strike me: that’s the punishment. . . .” 

Next to the Kaiser, Maximilian Harden is perhaps the 
best known figure in Berlin. If you call up ““Wilmensdorf 
366” the telephone operator will ask: “Harden?” That 
is not the number of Dze Zukunft, it is the telephone num- 
ber of his house. The German barber, who is quite as 
talkative as his American colleague, while shaving me no- 
ticed that I had with me a copy of Die Zukunft, and he 
immediately went into raptures over Harden. When I 
hailed a cabman and told him to drive to Wernerstrasse, 
16, he looked up importantly and asked: “Herr von 
Harden?” 

As I came to Grunewald, Berlin’s most beautiful section, 
where Harden’s villa is located, I noticed the following leg- 
end painted on his door: ‘Walk in lively! You may 
enter with dust-covered shoes! But if your heart and your 
mind are covered with dust, leave us alone!” 

This legend was not recently inscribed—it showed con- 
siderable signs of age. 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN ~ gl 


Mr. Harden received me in the room adjoining his li- 
brary, and through the open door I could see Franz von 
Lenbach’s famous painting of Bismarck on the wall fac- 
ing Harden’s writing table. From the photographs I had 
seen of Harden, and from what I knew of his work, I had. 
pictured him as a strong, imposing, rather theatrical 
figure. Instead, he is small in stature, unassuming, and 
modest-looking. But when he speaks there is something 
in his face, in his eyes, that reminds one of the Napoleonic 
cast of features. 

We began to speak about German literature and the 
drama of to-day. 

“T have been ten days in Berlin and have noticed that 
perhaps nine-tenths of the dramas produced in your 
theatres are translations or adaptations from other lan- 
guages. French comedies, farces, and detective plays are 
in the lead. Shakespeare is given, the Ibsen plays are 
produced, Goethe’s ‘Faust’ has been revived by Max Rein- 
hardt in a most elaborate form. Occasionally an original, 
new German play is also produced. What is the state of 
the drama in Germany to-day?” I asked. 

“German literature cannot be said to be in a flourishing 
condition,” said Harden. ‘Some of our dramatists are 
writing novels now, but they have not produced anything 
of importance. ‘Sudermann’s “The Song of Songs’ is a 
fiasco. It was a cheap appeal to the lower tastes of the 
people, but it failed, nevertheless. As in his dramas, 
Sudermann was here also striving merely for outward ef- 
fects. Hauptmann’s latest play, ‘Griselda,’ also failed of 
success. The trouble with all our dramatists is that as 
soon as they have met success with one of their plays they 


Q2 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


set up a high standard of living, and in order to maintain 
it they must keep on turning out play after play. They 
must produce even when they have nothing to produce. 

“Take Hauptmann, for instance. He has bought eight 
villas and has grown accustomed to a luxurious life. He 
is thus compelled to produce unripe work upon the stage. 
German literature would be in a better state if our novelists 
and dramatists would rest more than they do. In France 
Rostand, the most gifted of all French poets and dramatists, 
produced only one drama after his great success, ‘L’Aiglon.’ 
In Germany all—Halbe, Hauptmann, Sudermann, and 
others—have been writing too fast. Only a genius can 
produce a drama at one stroke. No other form of litera- 
ture requires so much careful work as the drama. The 
great Ibsen always worked intensively; he re-wrote every 
dialogue three or four times; he reconstructed his scenes 
until they were dramatically perfect. 

“This dearth of good dramas and novels is all the more 
to be regretted because there is at present a great interest 
in the drama and in literature in general to be noticed 
among the people. Many books are bought now and the 
theatres are thriving.” 

“Are there any new tendencies, new currents, in German 
literature? I see that Russian pornographic literature is 
finding its way into Germany in translations. Do you 
think this will exert some influence upon the modern Ger- 
man literature?” I asked. 

“Unfortunately, too much space and importance are 
given to eroticism, to sexualism, in our literature. I am 
not a preacher of prudery. But I detest a work whose 
success is attained through pornography. Eroticism does 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 93 


not play so important a part in the life of the people as 
may be gathered from this sort of literature. 

“The fault of modern literature is that it mirrors real 
life too little. After all the power and efforts spent by 
the German people on inventions and the development of 
our industries, the future historian will not find anything in 
the books written during the past ten years that would give 
him even the slightest idea of what the people have really 
been doing. He will find only conflicts of Bohemians; 
stories of little girls and artists and literary folk. The 
treatment of real life, in artistic form, has been sadly 
neglected. 

“There is a strong movement now for ‘native literature,’ 
for typically German literature. J regard this movement 
as worthless. Who wants to resist outside influences upon 
art to-day? Assimilation is felt in all arts at present, and 
narrow nationalism is becoming impossible. People of dif- 
ferent nations and countries are growing ever more similar 
to one another.. The national differences are less pro- 
nounced than the social differences. People of the same 
economic conditions living in different countries understand 
one another better than the people who live in luxury under- 
stand those who live in the cellars of the same houses.” 

“Which literature do you regard at present as one that 
is likely to exert a determining influence upon other 
literatures ?”’ 

“Certainly not current German literature. It is an in- 
dividual who looms up and introduces a new note. Haupt- 
mann cannot influence others. He is himself a conglomera- 
tion of other literatures. You will find in him the influ- 
ences of French and Russian literatures. Heine was a 


04 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


strong influence, especially on the young French lyrieal 
poets. Now Nietzche is influencing the minds of young 
writers. Victor Hugo and Ibsen have had powerful in- 
fluence everywhere. With Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy came 
the great Slavic wave over European literature.” 

“And now ?”’ 

“Now we are waiting for the American wave. It will 
surely come. It must come. It is with literature as with 
life and with politics,” said Mr. Harden. “The influence 
of America is beginning to be felt in Europe. A great deal 
is being said about the Americanization of Europe, but the 
accusation that the Americans are money-mad, that they are 
nothing but dollar people is but a vulgar prejudice which 
is rapidly disappearing. ‘There are dollar people every- 
where. Nine-tenths of the efforts of all people everywhere 
are bent on moneymaking, and it is childish to speak of 
Americans as introducing commercialism into the arts. 

“Paul Bourget was the first to weaken the prejudice that 
the Americans are merely business people. I know several 
American business men myself, and I am astounded at the 
interest they take in art. The higher spheres, the nobility, 
in Germany are not interested in art or literature; they 
have no libraries and they buy no paintings. If not for the 
wealthy Jews almost all our artists would have to starve. 
This abnormal state, caused by the indifference of our upper 
classes, has certainly had a retrogressive effect upon our 
arty ee 
Finally our conversation turned from literature to poli- 
tics. I asked him for his views on the future of Germany. 

“It is hard to foretell the future of Germany,” replied 
Mr. Harden. “Germany is strong, colossal, and it is 
erowing ever stronger. But the population of Germany is 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 95 


crowing, and it is becoming necessary for Germany to ex- 
pand. Germany must have colonies, it needs colonies for 
its natural development, and it will make an effort to ac- 
quire them. When? Not immediately, but in the near 
future.” 

Mr. Harden paused awhile, and then went on: 

“The best and most natural thing would be for the 
Germanic nations, the Anglo-Saxons and Americans, to 
unite and go hand in hand together. But England is op- 
posed to such a union because of her antipathy for Ger- 
many. ‘Therefore, it is probable that England will form 
a close friendship with the Slavs and the Japanese. 

“With a view to the future, if America is sufficiently 
far-sighted, it should reflect and consider carefully as to 
what would be best for herself. It would be best for 
America to look to her own interests, and therefore not go 
with England and thus help her carry out her policies, 
which would work to the detriment of the United States. 

“Tf there is mutual good-will between England, America, 
and Germany, these three great industrial nations will find 
the possibility for natural and pacific development. But 
I fear that it will be impossible to avoid a war. The situa- 
tion will not be straightened out without a war. It must 
come to it, because Englishmen are not yet accustomed, 
they have not yet learned from history to divide power; 
they are determined at any cost to hold by force and vio- 
lence that which they regard as theirs. 

“The English statesman, who could see clearly the rela- 
tions between Germany and England, must ponder care- 
fully over everything that England has experienced with 
both South African republics since 1900 till the present 
time, and then reproduce this experience in world politics. 


96 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Then he would see that it is better to come to an agreement 
with a great power in the beginning instead of waging 
war in an effort to kill it off. 

‘As to Japan, I believe that the United States has made 
the gravest mistake by allowing it to become so great and 
powerful. Roosevelt was a very able and energetic Presi- 
dent, but I do not think that he had very keen political 
foresight. 

“Tt was the natural antipathy for Russia that allowed 
Japan to become great. But the Americans rejoiced al- 
together too much over Japan’s victory. 

“T think that America, which has settled the negro prob- 
lem, will also manage to settle the yellow race problem. 
The great difficulty for America is how to check pacifically 
the invasion of the yellow races. But the danger of the 
yellow-race problems will lose its acuteness as soon as the 
Panama Canal is ready. Then America will be able to resist 
Japan. Until then America will have to be careful.” 

I asked Mr. Harden to express himself concerning the 
Turkish situation. 

“T do not regard this liberalism in Turkey as definitely 
settled. It was said of the Jesuits that they either remain 
as they are or they can’t exist at all. The same is true of 
Islam. The liberalism in Turkey is not liberalism in the 
American or English sense.. Turkey is a religious State. 
It is impossible to make such an important change as has 
been made in Turkey so quickly. It was brought about by 
officers and journalists, and the people had no hand in it. 
I believe there will soon be another uprising and the old 
Sultanate will reinstate itself. The Turks gravitate to 
Asia. In European Turkey the Turks are in the minority. 
The officers furnish the sinews, and the journalists, schooled 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 97 


for years in London, Paris, and Brussels, furnish the brains 
of the new system in Turkey. But the people have played 
no part in the revolution. Mohammed and Robespierre, 
the Koran and Contrat Social—these do not rhyme well. 
I fear that reaction and revolution will alternate for some 
time to come. 

“The situation in Turkey shows the weakness of Europe. 
Turkey belongs in Asia. Islam either remains as it is or 
it can’t exist at all. Turkey is in Europe because of the 
rivalry among the European powers, because of their weak; 
ness. It is just the same as if Japan would be tolerated by 
America to settle down along the Pacific. Americans, be- 
cause of this example, may be counseled against permitting 
the Japanese invasion in the very beginning.” 

“Do you think that the recent change in Turkey will 
serve as an impetus to a change in Russia?” I asked. 

“T do not believe that anything will come about in Rus- 
sia,” answered Harden. “The Russian people, all classes 
of the Russian people, want peace and rest. Only a war 
can bring Russia to a new uprising. Jussia, too, is an 
Islam. Nothing save a change in the inner life of the Rus- 
sian masses will lead to the reconstruction of Russia. 
There must first be an awakening of their inner conscious- 
ness, there must first be an inner revolution. But this, I 
fear, is a long, hard road. The Russian masses have still 
to learn the difference between the life of the Czar and the 
life of an apostle.” 

Berlin, 1916. 

In these days even the great and independent and cou- 
_rageous men of the countries involved in the war, the master 
minds of the various nations are not at liberty to speak the 
truth as they see it. They dare not comment on facts as 


98 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


they desire, they must not find fault even when they feel 
that their criticism might help their own countries, which 
they love passionately. 

When the voice of cannon speaks the voice of reason 
must be silent. Silent now are the truly great men who 
are the conscience of the nations at war, and those who 
speak often distort the truth, believing that they are there- 
by helping their fatherlands. 

When the machine guns are kept in action, mowing down 
the strongest and the weakest alike, when Zeppelins come 
in the stillness of the night over unfortified cities and hurl 
bombs upon women and children, the voices of the thinkers 
and the creative genius of the nations must be muffled, and 
it is regarded almost as high treason to utter words and ex- 
press sentiments that might lead the maddened world back 
to sanity. 

In the course of my journeys through Europe, in Eng- 
land, France, Italy, Germany and Austria I noticed that the 
people everywhere are thirsting for peace and for the 
restoration of order and reason in blood-drenched Europe. 
And even those who are blinded by their sympathies for 
this nation or that are agreed that the European catastrophe 
is the most ghastly nightmare of madness and blood and 
horrors in history. 

The military parties of the Governments at war have 
started a diabolical game which they do not know how to 
stop. So the slaughter goes on. 

The people of all the warring nations believe that they 
are shedding their blood for humanity, and they sincerely 
expect the aid of God for their arms, and when the people 
of one nation pray for their men in the trenches, on sea 
and in the air, the prayers of the other nations go up in the 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN » 99 


same terms to the same God, and if God should heed all 
their prayers He would have to destroy them all. 

The passions of the people are fanned by falsehoods so 
that their hatred and spirit of vengeance might grow. 

A German statesman spoke to me about the enthusi- 
asm with which his people went to the trenches to certain 
death. I remarked: 

“In your country the people seem to hate by order and 
to love by order. Now their hatred is directed against this 
nation. Suddenly it is directed against another nation. 
The Government gives the order and the people hate 
accordingly. 

“And yet the statesmen themselves do not seem to hate 
the statesmen of the nations they are fighting.” 

“Yes,” replied the statesman, “it is quite true. But 
how could you expect the people to fight, to sacrifice their 
lives, if they were not made to hate the enemy?” 

Under such circumstances the real representatives of the 
people, the thinkers and the scientists, cannot make their 
voices heard, and many of them have even been so carried 
away by their chauvinism that they too spur on this spirit 
of hatred and violence among the people. 

But in all the countries at war there are a few brave men 
among the great leaders of public opinion who dare to speak 
the truth because they love humanity as well as their own 
countries. 

Among these few men is Maximilian Harden, the famous 
and courageous German editor and publicist. 

During my stay in Berlin I had the keen pleasure of a 
few interesting meetings with Maximilian Harden in his 
home in Grunewald, where we discussed various phases of 
the war and the prospects for peace. On the night before 


100 «=©6©THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


I left Berlin, on my way back to America, I visited him 
again. 

“T envy you because you are returning to America,” he 
said when he learned that I was to start for New York the 
following day. “I have always longed to visit America. 
I wanted to familiarize myself more closely with the life 
of the American people, of the young, growing nation. I 
believe that America is misunderstood and misinterpreted 
in Europe. 

“T am always disgusted with attacks on the ‘Yankees’ 
and on ‘Dollarland’ that people so delight in making in va- 
rious European countries. I can see in the American peo- 
ple a strong will for good and a great idealism. It is a 
younger state and thus it has all the faults and all the 
virtues of youth. Even in the question of ammunition, 
which has been in this country very acute, and which has 
made the Americans extremely unpopular in Germany, I 
feel that if it were wrong for America to sell ammunition 
to the Allies, the American Government would not have 
permitted it. 

“The real cause of the differences between the Americans 
and the Germans has been the lack of knowledge of the facts 
concerning the attitude of these countries toward each 
other. There has been so much misinformation in Ger- 
many concerning America, and J dare say there has been so 
much distorted information in America about Germany, 
that it was extremely difficult for these nations to check the 
growing irritation, and serious consequences might spring 
from misinformation. 

“The American note to Austria regarding the question 
of ammunition was an admirable document, which pre- 
sented the attitude of America in this matter with splendid 


MAXIMILIAN: HARDEN 101 


clearness. This point of view should have been presented 
in some form or another in Germany long ago and much of 
the hatred that has developed for America in Germany 
would not have taken root. 

“The military authorities are incensed at America over 
the question of ammunition and the people at large, fed on 
newspaper accounts inflaming the passions of the mob 
against Americans on this point are, of course, also aroused. 
Only this evening as I came in from the city one of the 
railroad guards remarked to me: “Those cursed Ameri- 
cans are again supplying ammunition to the French and the 
British, with which thousands of our men are killed. But 
we will teach them a lesson for this. We will give them 
the whipping they deserve.’ 

“This is the attitude of the ignorant people. But if the 
Germans here knew a little more of the truth about Amer- 
ica, and if Americans knew a little more of the truth about 
Germany, I feel certain that such a state of public opinion 
could not prevail.” 

“But this view is shared not only by the people who are 
not familiar with the facts,’ I remarked. “I understand 
that in high political spheres in Germany such views have 
been expressed openly. I have learned from a most reli- 
able source that a well-known German diplomatist said to 
a prominent American several months ago: ‘It would be 
well for America to realize that there are 500,000 German- 
Americans in the United States who would rise at a mo- 
ment’s notice from the German Government. The sooner 
America realizes this the better for America.’ 

“The American replied to the German statesman: ‘You 
are mistaken. There are no German-Americans, or any 
other hyphenated Americans who would rise against Amer- 


102 ‘THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ica by order of another Government. And I can assure 
you that if there were, if so-called Americans would rise 
against America by order of another Government, there 
are enough lampposts in America on which to hang them 
al 

Harden shrugged his shoulders and said: 

“T am astounded to hear that a statesman should have 
dared to make such a statement. But then in these days 
of madness people seem to have forgotten how to speak and 
think rationally. My feeling concerning the German- 
Americans is this: If the Germans in America want to 
be so thoroughly German that they are displeased and 
openly discontented with America, they should have re- 
mained in Germany. 

“There is no denying that the Germans in America con- 
stitute one of the best elements of the American people, 
and I know that most of them are patriotic Americans. It 
is quite natural that their sympathies should be on the side 
of their old home. It is human. But the German- 
Americans should employ in a crisis of this magnitude all 
the tact and good judgment at their command, and they 
ought to realize that the best way in which they can serve 
their old home is by showing that they are good Americans, 
by actually being and acting as good Americans to-day. 

“If they have gone to America they must have come there 
to find something which they could not find in their old 
homes, and if they stay there they must have found there 
what they sought. They are guests in America. They 
have been welcome guests there before the war and they 
will be welcome after the war is ended, but they should be 
tactful.” 

Of the European catastrophe, he said: 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 103 


“What can a man say at this time of all the unspeakable 
horrors that have come upon Europe? I had expected that 
a war would break out before long, but not a war of such 
magnitude. 

“As far as Germany is concerned, whatever may be said 
of our success on the battlefield, the Allies have had prac- 
tically no success at all. They are still compelled to fall 
back on the Marne battle when they speak of their suc- 
cesses. But from whatever point we may view this war 
I feel that if it will not bring about a change in Europe it 
is madness, nothing but criminal madness. This should be 
the last war. Nothing else would justify the millions of 
human lives and the billions that have been sacrificed.” 

“May I know upon what terms you believe Germany 
would agree to stop this war?’ I asked. 

“The German people are not an impatient people, and 
this war is unlike any of the previous wars. There is no 
definite aim for which any of the nations is fighting. 
Usually there was a definite purpose and aim. When that 
was attained the war was practically ended. In this war 
it is altogether different. None of the nations knows just 
what it is striving to attain through this war. The Ger- 
mans can fight on. Of course the German people cannot 
be expected to return home without gaining any advantage 
after such enormous loss of life, after such extraordinary 
sacrifices. 

“But it is a misfortune that all the Powers consider peace 
talk as a sign of weakness. Peace negotiations should be 
started at once. Peace talk, or rather the desire for peace, 
is not a sign of weakness but rather a sign of strength, of 
the restoration of sanity, a sign that madness has reached 
a point beyond which it ought not to be permitted to go. 


104 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“T believe that all thinking people of every country are 
in favor of peace. How can any sensible and honest man 
be in favor of this hate? How is war started? How is 
this hate brought into being and forced onto the people? 
The people wake up one beautiful morning and find that 
their honor has been assaulted, that their country is in dan- 
ger, that a cruel enemy has designed to annihilate them. 
The patriotism of the people suddenly begins to manifest 
itself in various forms of passionate hatred and violence. 

“In time of war everybody is suspected of desiring to 
betray his country. Even the most devoted sons and the 
leading thinkers are suspected of treason if they dare to 
speak calmly and reasonably. There should not be any 
doubt but that every thinking man loves his country and 
wishes it to succeed and to grow in power and influence. 

“Patriotism is a matter of fact, it is a natural feeling; 
but in our patriotism we must not forget that in addition 
to our love for our country there is mankind to which all 
countries should be responsible. This is the higher patri- 
otism. And this higher patriotism makes the thinking re- 
alize all the more keenly that this war is sheer madness, 
and if there will be no change for the better, if as a result 
of this slaughter war will not be made impossible within at 
least the average lifetime of a man, it is the most ghastly 
and inconceivable madness. 

“People have considered me a militarist, an advocate of 
war. But I am not. I always thought that another 
great war was inevitable, on account of the wrong ways 
and methods of the diplomatists, but I never expected 
that we should be the witnesses of such a terrible war as 
this, of such downright madness. It is absurd to speak 
of bringing the great nations to their knees, of crushing 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 105 


this great Power or that. It cannot be done. Neither 
Germany, nor England, nor France, nor even Russia, can 
be crushed. | 

“The people who speak of destroying nations are not 
taking history into consideration. A great nation cannot 
be destroyed by war. And even if it could be ruined it is 
absurd for the other nations to try to do it. It is as 
though I would destroy everything in the house in which I 
expected to live simply because I was angry at one of the 
neighbors living in the same house, The nations now at 
war will have to live as neighbors in the house which they 
are now destroying, and the more terrible the hatred and 
the more extensive the destruction, the worse for all of 
them. 

“T want to see the factors of culture in every nation 
maintained and not destroyed. The nations, the people, 
have within them the qualities of right and justice and 
love; but this zoological war, this atavistic slaughter, has 
been brought about by elements unfortunately represented 
in the spheres of diplomacy everywhere. The passions that 
have been aroused, the hatred that has been spread, have 
poisoned the people everywhere. The French are as un- 
reasonable against Germany as Germany is unreasonable 
against France. 

“After all it cannot be denied that Germany has certain 
virtues. Nor can it be denied that France has certain 
virtues. The same is true of England. Although there 
are some foolish people among us who still say ‘Gott strafe 
England’ (God punish England), we must not forget that 
after all we have emulated England in many ways. It is 
ridiculous to speak of cultured nations as savages, to close 
our eyes to the achievements of the various nations, to their 


106 $‘THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


contributions in different ways to the welfare of mankind, 
but the people everywhere seem to be acting and speaking 
as though they were all intoxicated. We are destroying 
the house in which we expect to live in peace. 

“T find that the time has come when this terrible catas- 
trophe must make similar catastrophes impossible. It 
seems to me that mankind should no longer permit such 
catastrophes to be brought about by the mistakes of the 
politicians. All great Powers must get together in order 
to make an end to this unparalleled crime. 

“History will some day fix the responsibility and record 
the truth as to the real criminals who have started this 
war. But now the great minds of all the countries at war, 
and especially of the neutral Powers, ought to make every 
effort to set aright this calamity which has befallen Europe 
Do not try to go into details as to who started the war, fort 
if you do you will not have peace for a long time to come. 

“As to the terms of peace, no one can tell whether a na- 
tion has concluded peace upon satisfactory terms or not 
for at least twenty years. The terms of peace that may 
seem satisfactory at the time of their conclusion may prove 
very unsatisfactory. 

“The politicians and statesmen who sit in their nooks 
and intrigue and plot see only one side of the big questions, 
and it is high time for mankind to guard itself against 
calamities resulting from the machinations of such politi- 
cians and diplomatists. 

“The great minds of the countries at war instead of fight- 
ing with their pens, instead of emulating their brethren 
who are fighting with guns, should employ their intellectual 
weapons to restore order and peace rather than to stir up 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 107 


new hatreds and to encourage violence. It is easy for them 
to be heroes by shouting and clamoring for vengeance. 
Blind passion may be a blessing in the trenches, but not in 
the study. The great sacrifices of human life on both sides 
of the Powers at war are in vain, for no purpose will be 
achieved by them. And those of us who are too old or too 
weak to go in defense of our country on the battlefield, and 
those of us who can exert influence upon the world, must 
strive to restore peace as speedily as possible. 

“Unfortunately this is the age of small statesmen. The 
nations are guided by mediocre men. In Europe I regard 
Sir Edward Grey as one of the saner and better minds 
among the statesmen.” 

I pointed to the portrait of Bismarck over Maximilian 
Harden’s desk and said: “‘Do you think we would have 
had this war if we had a Bismarck to-day among the 
diplomatists of Europe?” 

“I am convinced that we should have had no war if 
Bismarck were alive,” declared Harden. ‘‘The secret of 
lasting peace is that the power of might shall after this war 
be curbed. This cannot be done in war but in peace. It 
is against the genius of the times.” 

I asked Mr. Harden about the efforts in behalf of peace 
by neutral countries. He answered: 

“The Pope’s plans for peace, his impassioned appeals 
for peace, are fine, but they are largely of a decorative na- 
ture. I believe that the United States, that President 
Wilson, can do more for the peace of the world than any 
other power. Of course many people everywhere are dis- 
pleased with America’s attitude in this war, but you can- 
not please all the people with any policy, however Just 


108 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


and righteous it may be. I believe America’s attitude has 
been correct, and that is why America can help in bring- 
ing about peace. 

“America will be the mistress of the world after the war. 
Europe will be bankrupt, ruined. America will be in su- 
preme command in commerce as well as in other matters. 
It is most important for the world that such a young, 
powerful part of it has kept out of this war.” 

In answer to the question regarding the Polish provinces 
now occupied by Germany, Mr. Harden said: 

“The Polish provinces are for us perhaps the most dif- 
ficult problem. We must settle it in such a manner as to 
assure peace in our eastern provinces. JI personally would 
be opposed to a Polish state under Austrian sovereignty, as 
has been contemplated. I hope that we may make no mis- 
take in this direction. We must make the life of the na- 
tionalities in Germany so agreeable that they should not 
long for the old mode of life in the countries where they 
lived before. We cannot make them German by force. 
We must not repeat the same mistake that England made 
with regard to the Irish. 

“The Poles have disgraced themselves during this war by 
the wholesale acts of treason, especially in Austria, where 
numerous Polish leaders betrayed their country. The 
cowardly way in which they accused the Jews of the crimes 
they themselves had committed makes their crimes all the 
graver.” 

Before I left his home he remarked once more: 

“If this war will not be the last great war, it is nothing 
else than criminal madness. Europe will be absolutely 
bankrupt if the war continues until April. I believe that 
if the question concerning Belgium could be settled now, 


MAXIMILIAN HARDEN 109 


the war would be at anend. As for indemnities, it should 
be quite clear that if the war is ended three months earlier 
all the Powers would save sums constituting large 
indemnities.” 


BERNARD SHAW 


London, rgrz. 


Or all the English writers, I was particularly eager to meet 
Bernard Shaw, the man who was hated or admired; re- 
garded either as a great genius in advance of his time, or as 
a brilliant literary buffoon; either as a great reformer 
employing startling methods of expression to attract at- 
tention to what he had to say, or an insincere scoffer, jester, 
cynic and destroyer. 

I visited him at his home, at Adelphi Terrace, London. 
As I walked up the staircase, I saw a sign over the small 
gate on the first story, bearing the name of “Mrs. Bernard 
Shaw.” His own name was not there. I rang the bell 
and a rather pretty maid opened the door. As Mr. Shaw 
was expecting me at the appointed hour, the maid ushered 
me into his study—a spacious, bright, cheerful room. Mr. 
Shaw was seated on a couch, and near him, on a low stool, 
sat his secretary, a young woman, taking dictation. When 
I entered, the secretary rose and walked out, and I re- 
mained alone with Mr. Shaw. 

Bernard Shaw is a rather tall, well-built, kindly-looking 
man; gray yet youthful, almost always smiling. He wore 
a neat brown suit of the latest cut, which gave him quite 
a dashing appearance. 

He commenced by asking me questions about Russia. 
Then he spoke of Tolstoy, and finally gave vent to his feel- 


ings about America. He still seemed to feel the sting 
IIO 


BERNARD SHAW 111 


caused him by the suppression of “Mrs. Warren’s Profes- 
sion” in New York several years before. 

In the course of our conversation I asked him what he 
thought of Tolstoy’s essay on Shakespeare in which the 
great Russian tried to prove that Shakespeare was not only 
not a great dramatist but even a mediocre writer. 

“That was a silly little book,” replied Shaw. “Tolstoy 
took one of Shakespeare’s very best plays and tried very 
hard to prove that it was worse than the play from which 
he had drawn his theme. As a matter of fact, ‘King Lear’ 
is an excellent play, and Tolstoy was entirely wrong in his 
analysis of Shakespeare. 

“Tolstoy was a prodigious genius,” he went on as he re- 
clined on his couch, with a smile. “But he was devoid 
of any humor or fun. That’s why he could not understand 
me. He was too dead serious and he was almost childish 
in the philosophy he evolved and the doctrines he preached. 

“T cannot understand how so profound a student of hu- 
man nature and close an observer as Tolstoy was could ex- 
pect people to follow his rules of life which even a child 
would at once recognize as impractical, as hopelessly in- 
feasible. Yet he went on with his theories notwithstand- 
ing that his followers suffered disaster. 

“But as an artist he was wonderful. With one stroke 
he knew how to make certain things appear ridiculous. 
He made no comments. He simply pointed at some thing 
in passing, as it were, and the effect was tremendous. 

“T shall never forget the reference to the manner of ex- 
ercises made by one of the jurors in the jury room in 
‘Resurrection.’ Without the slightest comment he made 
the thing thoroughly ridiculous. Or, in his story, “The 
Death of Ivan Ilyich,’ where he describes the blue velvet 


112 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


thrown over the coffin—he makes no comment whatever, 
but somehow after reading it you feel how ridiculous 
funeral ceremonies are.” 

Much interest was centered on Bernard Shaw on account 
of the authorized critical biography of him that had ap- 
peared a short time before. In referring to it, Mr. Shaw 
said with an air of great seriousness: 

“This is a very good book. One can really get an ex- 
cellent idea of myself and my works by reading this book, 
but there is not a single accurate statement in it. 

“Dr. Henderson has published in this volume pictures of 
houses in which [I had never lived, and if he mentions a 
newspaper in connection with some of my work, he in- 
variably mentions the wrong one. He often gets me into 
trouble by quoting things which I had never said. 

“In one place, for instance, he refers to a statement which 
I am supposed to have made about my unfriendly relations 
to women. Now, even I would hesitate to say that I had - 
unfriendly relations with women. On the whole, how- 
ever, the book is very good, but it has what I would call 
the inaccuracies of higher mathematics. Dr. Henderson, 
you know, is a mathematician.” 

When our conversation turned to America and things 
American, I asked Mr. Shaw why he has never visited the 
country where some of his plays were so successful. 

“Why should I go to America?” wondered Mr. Shaw. 
“There is nothing there that can interest me. When Amer- 
ica will be a real American nation, when the American type 
becomes fixed, when the American’s skin turns red and his 
forehead recedes, then it will be interesting to go to Amer- 
ica. But at the present time, what are the Americans? 
An appalling, narrow lot. 


BERNARD SHAW 113 


“Take such a small detail as the incident with the women 
who wore ‘harem’ skirts in New York. They were jeered 
at and had to run for their lives. Now, the ‘harem’ skirt 
is really a splendid thing, and there is not the slightest 
cause for jeering those who wear them. But America is 
a land of unthinking, bigoted persecution. 

“Take another incident, the Gorky affair. Even if 
Gorky had come from a country where divorces are easily 
granted, the treatment he received at the hands of Amer- 
icans was brutal. But Gorky came from Russia, the land 
of barbaric laws. Therefore, I say America’s outrageous 
treatment of Gorky put her outside the pale of civilization, 
if she ever was within the pale. This should be said to 
America. It may do her some good.” 

‘Are you not interested in the development of the Amer- 
ican people—in their achievements?” I asked. 

“But they are not developing,” he answered. ‘That is 
why they don’t interest me. I am sure they would not be 
interested in me if I came there. JI am not an elephant, 
so I would not arouse their curiosity. They have much un- 
trained religious enthusiasm, and the trouble with Amer- 
icans is that each one is working out his own ideals in- 
dividually instead of having one common religion or ideal 
for all.” 

‘Are you opposed to individualism, to individual self- 
perfection?” I asked. 

“We must be guided by certain standards. Anything 
silly or rotten that I write is smashed by public opinion and 
done for. If I lived on a desert island I would perhaps be 
writing silly and sentimental romances which are of no use 
to anybody. But I am working hard. I argue and de- 
bate and weigh every phrase, and work on it and reconstruct 


114 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


it; 1t is quite simple. It is absolutely true that easy writ- 
ing is hard reading and hard writing is easy reading. 

“Now to return to America, I believe she ought to have 
a religion of her own. The Pilgrims took the Bible along 
with them when they emigrated to America. The Chris- 
tian religion was a real religion in the Middle Ages; then 
a state of skepticism set in at the time of Shakespeare. 

“Since the Pilgrims left their countries because of reli- 
gious persecution, it was quite natural that they should take 
their religion along with them. But it would have been 
much better for them if they had taken the religion of the 
Indians and developed it. At the present time we all wear 
clothes that do not fit us. We have the Christian religion, 
which is the Jewish religion, an Oriental religion—and it 
does not fit us. It was good for us when we were Orientals, 
when Judaism and later Christianity came into the world. 

“America is overridden with old-fashioned creeds and a 
capitalist religion. Mr. Roosevelt is a typical expression 
of what I mean. 

“There is not a single credible religion in the world to- 
day. No educated man in Germany or here, or even in 
America, believes in the things our religions would have us 
believe. A new religion is necessary.” 

Mr. Shaw spoke with apparent seriousness, but there was 
a peculiar smile in his eyes. 

I asked him for his views on the peace movement which 
was then also attracting considerable attention everywhere, 
particularly in England and the United States. He burst 
into laughter. 

“Do you take this seriously? I am fifty-five years old 
now, and I have passed through this peace wave several 
times. I recall one peace meeting in particular. It was 


BERNARD SHAW 115 


several years ago. I believe Sir Arthur Conan Doyle pre- 
sided at that meeting. I was an invalid and came to the 
meeting on crutches. They spoke of peace there. Every- 
body was in a peaceful frame of mind. People were send- 
ing Christmas cards to one another. Though I was on 
crutches, I believe I smashed that meeting. You see, we 
were building torpedo boats at the time, and anyone who 
would have dared to be opposed to our building those tor- 
pedo boats would have been mobbed. 

“International war will be stopped some day as duels 
have been stopped. All countries should combine, and the 
one that fires the first shot should be dealt with severely. 
But all this talk at present is nonsense. We talk of our 
command of the sea. This is ridiculous. We may as well 
talk of our command of the sun and the moon.” 

Mr. Shaw leaned back comfortably on the couch and, 
after a brief pause, went on with a smile: 

“But you must not think that we don’t lke the Amer- 
icans who come over here. We like them very much—that 
is, our hotelkeepers and shopkeepers do. ‘The Americans 
come over here and spend so freely the money made for 
them by the unfortunate people of America. We live on 
your earnings, on the sweat of your people, of the little 
children out in South Carolina and other states. That is 
all very nice for our hotelkeepers and shopkeepers. Also 
for France and Germany. We do like the Americans very 
much.”’ 

Mr. Shaw spoke for some time in this strain. Then our 
conversation turned to the drama in England. 

“The drama in England is hopeless,” he said. “I should 
have said the drama in England is hopeless just now. You 
see, I was born at an extremely unfortunate moment for 


116 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


myself. J came to England when I was twenty years old, 
in 1876. Compulsory education was introduced in Eng- 
land in 1870. The newly literate needed and bought the 
same kind of literature we used to buy in the penny num- 
bers—sentimental novels dealing with criminal heroes. 
The serious works of the dramatist and the novelist ap- 
peal only to a very few. 

“That is why Stevenson’s “Treasure Island’ was success- 
ful—he gave the newly literate a story of the type they 
liked in their penny thrillers, but of course it was beauti- 
fully written. He had to stoop to the masses. ‘There are 
several really fine writers in England to-day who are com- 
pelled to write sentimental stuff to keep from starving. 

“The same is true of the drama to-day. The old senti- 
mental novels are turned into dramas, and these popular 
dramas drive out the higher drama. The only difference 
between the drama of to-day and the drama of yesterday is 
that the criminal heroes are somewhat better to-day. It is 
quite natural that these plays as well as the silly society plays 
are successful. If you or I go to see such a play we may 
find it dull, and would be bored by it, but the large mass 
of the people do not want to think; the intellectual play 
drives them away. The clerks, the hard-working people 
like to see fine clothes and elegant manners and society life 
portrayed on the stage. They find pleasure in such plays 
and therefore go to see them. That is why I told Froh- 
man when he planned to give serious dramas here, that he 
would not succeed. Such plays should be given in an en- 
dowed theatre.” 

“What of your own plays, Mr. Shaw? Are you pleased 
with the reception they are getting?” I asked. 


BERNARD SHAW 117 


“Germany, Sweden, Austria—these are the countries that 
stand by me. France, the most backward country, and 
Paris, which is a hundred years behind other capitals of 
Europe, may soon see one of my plays produced there. 
A French manager has made a contract with me for the pro- 
duction of my play, but I shall not believe that they will 
produce it until I see it. 

“Mrs. Warren’s Profession’ is being produced in Vienna. 
They are also producing some of my plays in Russia, par- 
ticularly ‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession.’ This is a good old- 
fashioned play to bring children to see. 

“When ‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession’ was published in 
book form, I was afraid that some stupid people might buy 
the book and, without reading it, send it to the children as 
a Christmas present. People are generally in the habit 
of doing such things. So I called the volume ‘unpleasant 
plays’ to prevent adults from giving it to children. In the 
following edition I marked it still more strongly by a quo- 
tation on the title page which I felt sure would make cau- 
tious mothers hide the book from their children. 

“Imagine my surprise when one day a lady I know said 
tome: ‘Mr. Shaw, your book is a great favorite with my 
children.’ “What book is that?’ I asked. ‘Mrs. Warren’s 
Profession,’ she answered. 

“T asked her to tell me why the book was such a favorite 
with her children. She said they liked the story, partic- 
ularly the love scenes, and they were especially happy when 
it turned out that the lovers were sister and brother. When 
I asked what they thought of Mrs. Warren, she told me 
that they considered her a very funny and amusing person 
who kept a fried fish shop. Thus you see they found noth- 


118 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ing but purity in the play. You must be careful as to 
what books you give to adults, for they may be corrupted, 
but children may read anything.” 

In discussing the drama abroad Shaw touched upon the 
anti-Semitic demonstration that took place at that time in 
Paris in connection with Henri Bernstein’s play. And 
then he talked of the Jewish question in general. 

“I could never understand what they call the Jewish 
question. [I think the Jewish question everywhere is due 
to the Jew’s business ability and honesty. If a Jew makes 
a bargain with you he means to keep it, and means you to 
keep it, too. The Englishman will sign away everything 
when he needs money, but he does not mean to keep his 
promise when he makes the bargain. 

“Of course, there is no special antipathy against the Jew 
in England, but whatever there is simply comes from the 
Jew’s straightforward business integrity, which infuriates 
some of the thick-headed Englishmen. I think that Shake- 
speare sized up the situation to a nicety in ‘The Merchant 
of Venice.’ Shylock made a bargain with Antonio, kept 
it, and meant that Antonio should keep it. Antonio, who 
is really a sentimental Englishman, was ready to sign away 
everything in order to get the money from the Jew, with- 
out the slightest intention of ever returning it. When the 
Jew wanted Antonio to fulfil his end of the contract, the 
mob jeered and mocked him. 

“This, I believe, is true everywhere. The Jew is in- 
telligent, industrious and hard-working, and when he makes 
a bargain he knows exactly what he is doing. 

“The prejudice against the Jewish race is still deep- 
rooted because people do not pause to analyze the prejudice. 
I think Macaulay was right when he said that if you start 


BERNARD SHAW 119 


a prejudice against red-headed people there would soon 
develop a general hatred of them, and they might be 
massacred. 

“The massacres of the Jews in Russia was managed ex- 
actly as the massacres of the Armenians in Turkey. The 
Sultan gave the order in Turkey and the Tsar gave the 
order in Russia.” 

Mr. Shaw then reverted to the New Religion in his 
whimsical manner and wound up by saying: 

“T say that Life Force is God. But the Englishman ob- 
jects to this. He says that Life Force is a foreigner, while 
God is an Englishman. That is where we disagree.” 


AUGUSTE RODIN 


Paris, May, rorz. 

Aucuster Roprn, the world’s foremost sculptor to-day, the 
energetic Rembrandt in sculpture, who but yesterday had 
to struggle like a novice and defend his art against the 
prejudice of his colleagues and those people who always 
condemn the man who dares to speak his own word, is 
seventy one years young. Some people are always young. 
They have no time to grow old. ‘They do their work, they 
say their word in literature or in life, in sculpture, in paint- 
ing, Or in music, regardless of the censure and condem- 
nation of the few or the multitude; they work even 
more energetically in the face of such hardships, and 
their efforts are always identified with youthfulness. Such 
a man is Auguste Rodin, the French sculptor. 

The famous painter, Paul Laurens, said of Rodin: 

““He belongs to the race of those men who march alone.” 

Rodin has not only marched alone, but has made the 
multitudes, even his former enemies, march behind him. 
He has created an art epoch that will, in the future, charac- 
terize the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth 
centuries. In the words of a very gifted painter, Rodin, 
in his living creations of bronze and marble, has produced 
a natural and moving race of people. 

A poet of passion, an interpreter of the human, Rodin 
is young in his intense admiration of the old, the undying 
art of the Greeks, which was also human. Rodin has made 


his life one long, continuous effort to attain the ideal of 
I20 


AUGUSTE RODIN 121 


art. Though a Frenchman, Rodin is universal in his art. 
His power and immensity spring from his individuality, 
rather than from his surroundings. 

A keen art critic, Gustave Kahn, has said: 

“All great sculptors seek to reproduce life, but not all do 
it in the same spirit. Some pay more attention to the clear- 
ness of expression than to exactness. Michael Angelo is 
great, mighty and exact; others, like Carpeaux, for instance, 
are great and elegant; Rude and Rodin are great and pa- 
thetic. French sculpture, which together with Italian 
sculpture of the Renaissance, represented works of 
the greatest beauty, declined in the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century, until Rodin appeared as an artist. He 
made motion the chief characteristic of his works.” 

From his very first productions, beginning with “The 
Man with the Broken Nose,” to his very latest, which is 
not yet completed, and which is to be dedicated by Rodin 
to the “Martyrs of the Air,”’ he kept on shocking the placid 
academicians and conventional judges of art. His “John 
the Baptist’? and his statue of Balzac roused storms of in- 
dignation against Rodin in his own country as well as in 
other lands. 

Nevertheless, Rodin forged ahead, creating masterpiece 
after masterpiece, until he has made a place for himself as 
the foremost among the sculptors of the age. 

Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Rodin 
in Paris. I was invited to his studio at a quarter past five 
in the afternoon, when his day’s work is ended. ‘The spa- 
cious yard in front of his studio looked rather like the yard 
of a busy warehouse, with heavy trucks and many work- 
men going quickly about their work. Within, many artists, 
young and old, were waiting for the master. 


122 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Passing through a number of enormous rooms, contain- 
ing statuary of various sizes, antique and modern, I was 
met by the Duchess de Choiseul, a great admirer of Rodin, 
who informed me that Rodin would see me in a little while. 

I had heard that the Duchess de Choiseul, regarded by 
prominent French people as one of the most brilliant 
women in France, was called “‘Rodin’s Muse.” Also that 
she was an American. So I asked her: 

“Ts it true that you are known as Monsieur Rodin’s 
Muse and that you are an American?” 

“Yes, I am proud to be both—the Muse of the greatest 
sculptor in the world and a daughter of the greatest country 
in the world.” 

“May I know your maiden name?” 

“When I was a little girl I used to say that I was the 
daughter of the Coudert Brothers of New York,” replied 
the Duchess with a smile. 

“T said that I am proud that I am an American. I am 
also proud that I persuaded an American millionaire, 
Thomas F. Ryan, to do something really worth while for 
his country. J am referring to his gift of Rodin works to 
the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

“Mr. Ryan had his bust made by Rodin. Then an in- 
spiration came tome. I said to him one day: ‘Mr. Ryan, 
don’t be a dead man forever. You are a millionaire, but 
your millions will be of no avail when you die. Why 
shouldn’t you do something that will help your country?’ 

“T talked and talked to him in this strain until I suc- 
ceeded. Mr. French and Mr. Robinson, on the committee 
of the Metropolitan Museum, were the judges, and they 
purchased for Mr. Ryan the works of Rodin which now 
form the Rodin gallery in New York. 


AUGUSTE RODIN 128 


“This collection of Rodin masterpieces in America is of 
the utmost importance to young American artists. For I 
believe, just as Monsieur Rodin does, that we have more 
real artists in America, more talent, more genius, than other 
countries have. 

“Here in Europe we have dried fruit, while in America 
we have vigorous, young talents—but they are spoiled when 
they come over here, amidst these surroundings, away from 
the environments under which they could develop natu- 
rally. America is the greatest country in the world, but if 
every rich American were really interested in the develop- 
ment of his country, America could be made still greater. 

‘“‘America could be made greater than Greece and Rome 
ever were; we have enough millions there—now we want 
artists. By bringing over such works as those of Rodin or 
of other masters the young American artists could have the 
best examples of Europe’s greatest works amidst their own 
surroundings, and this would tend to build up a great 
American art.” 

At this point the door opened and Rodin walked in. 
With his long gray beard and gray hair, with his fine 
penetrating eyes, a dark velvet cap on his head, and in a 
brown velvet jacket, he looked like a Rembrandt painting, 
striking and picturesque. As he seated himself upon a 
sofa, there stood behind him his latest work, as yet un- 
finished, which he is dedicating to the martyrs of the air, 

After some preliminary conversation, I asked Rodin for 
his views as to the future of sculpture. 

“Sculpture is an eternal art,” he said, speaking slowly. 
‘At some periods it will assert itself more strongly than at 
others, but it will exist forever. 

“The art of sculpture was perfected by the Egyptians, 


124 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


the Assyrians, and the Greeks, who brought it to its highest 
point. In modern times different styles have been intro- 
duced in this art, and different names given to them, but 
these styles have deviated from the school of the Egyptians, 
the Greeks, and the Romans. ‘Therefore, our works are 
inferior, for the antique art is nearly perfect.” 

Rodin paused awhile, then continued, speaking more 
quickly: 

“The sculpture of our day is approaching a terrible 
crisis. Modern sculpture is losing all the best qualities of 
the art in the past. It is also separated from that which 
belonged to it when it was a perfect art. 

“In these days of ours there is a new manner of placing 
works of sculpture in public buildings called museums. 
This is a grave mistake. The works of art thus placed 
there are only fragments, and art, to be perfect, must be 
complete. 

“Sculpture and architecture belong together, and the 
deterioration of the one art affects the other. I believe 
that sculpture will rise again to its former position only 
after our architecture has regained its equilibrium. It 
seems to be a peculiarity of our time to put works of sculp- 
ture in the wrong place. 

“In France there is a movement at present striving to 
restore this art to its former state and to free it from these 
new tendencies of our age, which have been instrumental in 
its decline. The very fact that we have commenced to real- 
ize this error leads me to believe that there is hope for prog- 
ress—by going back to the older conception of this art.” 

“May I know what you regard as the mission of the 
sculptor and his art, if there is any such mission ?” 

“The mission of art is morality, religion. It is the finest 


AUGUSTE RODIN 125 


expression of human intelligence, the noblest expression of 
the thought of the whole of humanity. The epochs that 
preceded the eighteenth century brought beauty into the 
world, into life. The confusion of the nineteenth century, 
which upset everything, which overthrew old standards and 
created no new standards, entered also into art. 

“Confusion reigned supreme in all the arts. The nine- 
teenth century was the epoch of but a few individualities. 
It was an epoch without any particular style, without any 
characteristic standard, either in sculpture or in architecture. 

“But I feel optimistic as to the future. For I see signs 
pointing to new and better ways.” 

‘What is your opinion of American sculptors?” I asked. 

“American sculpture is still French,’ replied M. Rodin. 
“But it:is making great progress. America has produced 
a number of very remarkable artists, such as Sargent, Saint- 
Gaudens, Whistler. 

“There is no doubt in my mind that America has a great 
future as an art center. ‘There are many fine artists there, 
artists of unusual qualities, and American art, in all forms, 
will surely grow ever greater and greater—if it does not be- 
come commercialized. ‘There lies the great danger. 

“The commercialism of our age, especially in America, is 
ruining the best talents that would have made this age an 
art epoch. The commercial spirit, characteristic of this pe- 
riod, is the tomb-stone over the noblest strivings of the 
artists.” 

Our conversation turned to his own works, and I asked 
what he considered his most important production. 

“The most difficult thing in the world is to judge your 
own self and your own works. All my life has been de- 
voted to.a continual study of the human body and the soul. 


126 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Therefore, each one of my works represents something that 
is part of all my work, and I cannot say which is better and 
which is worse. 

“There are people who consider “The Kiss’ as my master- 
piece; there are others who regard “The Thinker’ as my 
most important work; still others believe “Victor Hugo’ to 
be the best thing I have done. To me it is simply a dif- 
ferent name, for all these works, as I said, are only a part 
of my studies of humanity, of passion, and thought.” 

Speaking of types of women and models, M. Rodin said: 

“The type of woman has not changed since the days of 
the ancient sculptors. It remains always the same—al- 
ways beautiful. In general the women of the Mediter- 
ranean were preferred by the artists as models, but women 
of the North are just as perfect. 

“For what is art? Always the great truth of nature 
seen by a human mind. Photographs are not art, because 
they do not pass through a human brain. 

“Everything in nature is beautiful for the real artist, 
for the man of imagination. Nothing is more ridiculous 
than the effort of an artist to produce something beautiful, 
something perfect, by combining perfect parts of different 
models into one. ‘Thus the artist who reproduces the eyes 
of one model, the hands of another, the feet of a third, the 
neck of a fourth, produces perhaps a beautiful doll, but it 
is lifeless and worthless. 

“There is no such thing as ugliness in nature, in life. 
Everything is beautiful if seen through the artist’s mind. 
The imperfections become perfect. There is nothing more 
wonderful than life.” 

M. Rodin was fatigued after a hard day’s work. The 
Duchess de Choiseul suggested that we look over some of 


AUGUSTE RODIN 12g 


the sculptures in the studio. There was ““The Benedic- 
tion.” Two women, with wings, rising out of the waves of 
the ocean, their heads bent in prayer. This is Rodin’s 
latest work, intended as a memorial for dead aviators 
who sacrificed their lives as martyrs to the great future of 
aviation. 

Another statue represents “Psyche et |’Amour.” Near 
it was a striking figure of a girl, seated upon a rock, listen- 
ing. This was entitled “The Echo.” 

Another work that attracts much attention in Rodin’s 
studio is “The Mystery.” Two hands, a man’s and a 
woman’s, clasping each other, form a sort of dome, and 
represent the mystery of life. 

M. Rodin always interested himself deeply with studies 
of the expression of the hand. He produced hands that 
seemed to clutch at space, ready to hurl it somewhere; he 
produced terrible hands that seemed to commit acts of 
violence; he formed fingers that groped greedily yet hope- 
lessly under the burden of Fate; he produced hands that ap- 
pear to be clutching at the shadow of mystery. At one 
period of his life, Rodin attached special significance to 
these studies of the human hands, but while Rodin never 
neglects details, his art strives above all for harmony, and 
these studies formed but part of his complete works. 

The Duchess de Choiseul then removed the cloth from 
an unfinished bust of herself which Rodin is working on. 

“The master really regards this bust as his masterpiece,”’ 
said the Duchess. 

It is indeed a most wonderful work, representing 
laughter. 

Rodin’s Muse laughed. The great sculptor came into 
the room, looked at the uncovered bust, and smiled. 


128 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“Tt is not yet finished, but I expect to complete it before 
long,” he said. 

Many students, artists, and other visitors were waiting 
for Rodin in the adjoining room. He went out to see 
them. 

Duchess de Choiseul covered the bust and said: 

‘““We have only one Rodin. He is old. We cannot af- 
ford to lose him. We must have him, we must have as 
much of his work as possible. Therefore, when he is tired 
or indisposed, I keep on urging him: ‘Work! Work! 
Work? ” 

And Rodin’s Muse laughed. 


Paris, May, 1972. 

Just as I was leaving Paris the postman handed me a 
letter from Auguste Rodin, containing an invitation to 
visit him in his studio on the following afternoon. My 
grips were in the automobile and I was on my way to the 
railroad station. 

A gifted painter and keen art critic who was with me 
said: 

“T hope you are not hesitating. I would give up a dozen 
other important engagements for a meeting with the 
Michel Angelo of modern times. Besides Rodin is 72, and 
there is only one Rodin.” 

I was not hesitating. JI remembered the great pleasure 
I had derived from my meeting with the vigorous, intel- 
lectual seventy-one-year young genius of France. 

At 2 o'clock I came to the studio where the greatest 
masterpieces of the famous French sculptor have been pro- 
duced and where they are still produced. 

Before meeting the master I met his “Muse.” 


AUGUSTE RODIN 120 


“Has M. Rodin completed the bust of his Muse?” I 
asked the Duchess as she came out and assured me that M. 
Rodin would soon return to the studio. 

“That was a most unfortunate affair. A number of ac- 
cidents happened to that bust before it was completed and 
finally when it was ready and was to be shipped to the 
exhibition another accident occurred and the work was de- 
stroyed. ‘That bust was one of the very finest works of 
the master. But he is working on a new bust.” 

Saying this she removed the cloth from an incomplete 
bust of herself, her face laughing broadly. 

“T am afraid that this one is not such a happy likeness 
of me,” she added with a smile. ‘“‘I am almost sure that 
no accidents will happen to this bust.” 

The ‘““Muse”’ commenced to speak with enthusiasm about 
Rodin’s great success everywhere in Europe, in America, 
and especially in France. 

‘Rodin has just returned from Lyons,” she said. “He 
has loaned to the city of Lyons his private collection of 
about two hundred and fifty of his favorite drawings for 
the exhibition. All the rooms and the salon are brilliantly 
illuminated and the impression made by the Rodin exhibi- 
tion there is one that can never be forgotten. The sur- 
roundings and the atmosphere are so delightful, and the 
works of the master seem to be moving and going around. 
It is a gigantic exhibition.” 

Then she spoke about the numerous people who are dis- 
turbing Rodin with various requests, and robbing him of 
his precious time. : 

‘There are some who come here in the hope of getting 
souvenirs,” she said, ‘‘and if they do not get any they are 
quite ready to steal them. Sometimes IJ fear that a crank 


136 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


might attack the master. I have been planning how to 
guard M. Rodin against such people. Now we have solved 
this question. I have secured a wonderful police dog to 
watch Rodin. People with criminal tendencies had better 
beware of that dog. And now that we have that dog here 

I feel that the master is safe. There was never a more in- 
telligent bodyguard nor a more loyal one.” 

Finally Rodin came in. His short stature, his left shoul- 
der somewhat lower than the right, the deep furrows on his 
face might disillusion his admirer at the first glance, but 
as soon as Rodin begins to speak and his eyes brighten you 
see before yourself the genius. You realize that the 
enormous struggles and hardships and disappointments he 
had experienced before he could gain recognition had im- 
printed those deep wrinkles on his face. You feel the 
deep, sincere note in all he says. And you also feel that, 
unlike many great artists, he knows how to say things 
effectively. 

Rodin is very modest. Several years ago, when he visited 
England for the first time, the modesty of the famous 
French sculptor assumed an amusing aspect. He was in- 
vited to London. A deputation of prominent artists and 
a representative of the King went out to meet him in Dover 
and to greet him as he stepped on English soil. A special 
car was in readiness to take the master to London; but the 
deputation failed to find Rodin. Finally, they noticed him 
seated in a third class car with his huge valise. 

_ He was taken to the special car. In London a banquet 
was given in his honor. A great number of celebrities 
were present. One of them delivered a speech in English 
which seemed to make a profound impression. Rodin did 
not understand a word of it. As the speaker referred to 


AUGUSTE RODIN Uo Gate 


the greatest sculptor in the world, who was among them, 
all applauded enthusiastically. Rodin also applauded, 
for he did not know whom the people were applauding. 

I asked M. Rodin whether he would not care to say some- 
thing to the American people, among whom his works are 
beginning to attract so much attention. 

The great sculptor answered: 

“The American nation has created a Rodin Museum at 
the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Being now a part of 
the Metropolitan Museum it may increase and grow in 
time. The Rodin Museum, I understand, is now visited 
by many working people, by artisans and students. This 
pleases me immensely. I think that such museums render 
great services and are very useful, for I notice that in all 
countries in Europe and in America efforts are now being 
made to restore art to its former place. Until recently art 
has been declining. 

“The trouble is that among the students of art there are 
many who are not seriously devoting themselves to the 
study of art; there are so many idlers and nobles who pose 
as art students. JI, therefore, have more confidence, and I 
expect real results from the actual apprentices. These 
have more courage, more perseverance; they make more se- 
rious efforts, and they want to make progress and accom- 
plish ever better results. And this is what we need nowa- 
days. We must try to find again the energy that 
art students had in former days. Such energy is still 
to be found in those working for the progress of sci- 
ence. But among the students of art this energy has been 
declining. 

“The fine arts must go on developing with the greatest 
sincerity. Sincerity should always be the keynote of all 


132 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


works of art. Art brings happiness into life, for it is for 
the most part a rational admiration of nature. 

“Art is like religion. And the best religion is that which 
gives happiness. at the smallest cost, almost without money, 
for after all the different ways of happiness are chiefly 
intellectual. 

“It is upon such principles as this that one realizes the 
beautiful productions of art which have come down to us 
from the great epochs in the past. Sincerity in the ad- 
miration of nature has brought us all great masterpieces of 
all times. ‘The finest architectural works, the finest sculp- 
tures are those suggested by beauties of nature, and the 
finest adornments of architecture are made of the graceful 
body of woman. This I have been trying to explain in my 
works.” 

Speaking of his own methods of work, M. Rodin said: 

‘As I have stated before, I believe that art requires first 
of all patience and perseverance. Nowadays the young 
people want to make progress in the arts too quickly. They 
do not even find the time for learning to know themselves. 
The young people are striving for originality, or what they 
believe to be originality, and they hasten to imitate it. 
Forced originality, like the bizarre, has no reason for 
existence. 

“A real artist builds his artistic work upon nature. Only 
after he has done that can he infuse his own temperament 
into the work. Many young artists will go to a museum and 
examine quickly a number of works of art, and then they 
will say to themselves, ‘Now we have found ourselves, we 
have discovered our souls, we will create something new.’ 
It may be that they really have souls, but these souls are 
the souls of thieves. 


AUGUSTE RODIN 2135, 


“We must try to do the very best we are able todo. We 
cannot become perfect artists within a few days. Artists 
need an enormous deal of patience. And they must work 
hard. Nothing can be achieved without hard work. If 
an artist is hasty, if he is hurrying to accomplish something, 
if he does not regard his work as its own end, if he thinks 
only of the success that will come to him as a result of his 
work, if he thinks only of the money he will get for his 
work, of the honors that may be showered upon him, of the 
orders he will secure, the artist is at an end, he will never 
accomplish anything really worthy. 

“Such people will never be artists. They may make 
things that will appeal to the masses because these things 
will be mediocre, they will stoop to the lower taste of the 
masses and to their short-sighted intelligence. But they 
will never be real artists. And how easy it is for the 
artist to go astray! The artist who loves women too pas- 
sionately is lost. | 

“You cannot serve two passions at the same time; you 
cannot serve art and woman at the same time. And yet 
it has always been the opinion that artists derive their in- 
spiration from the fire of life. Inspiration! Oh, that is 
an old, romantic idea which is devoid of any meaning. 
According to that old idea a youth of twenty is smitten with 
an inspiration to create a marble statue, to build it out of 
the delirium of his imagination at night. This is nonsense. 

“Artists do not love their work if they do not understand 
it. All that is done in haste and in a state of excessive 
exaltation should be destroyed. Lombroso and others who 
imagine that genius borders on insanity are absolutely 
wrong. Genius is order personified, the concentration of 
-the abilities and level-mindedness of the masses. My work 


134 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


has often been styled the product of inspiration and exalted 
enthusiasm. I am just the opposite of an enthusiast. 

“My temperament is even. I am not a dreamer. I am 
rather a mathematician. My sculpture is good because it 
is geometrically correct. I do not deny that I am emo- 
tional in my work, but that is only because my emotion 1s 
aroused by the beauties of nature which I am reproducing. 
I admire nature and I find it so perfect that if God called 
me and asked me to suggest a change I would answer: ‘All 
is perfect. Nothing should be changed.’ 

“People have often accused me of having made erotic 
sculptures. J have never made any erotic works. I have 
never made a sculpture for the sake of the erotic element. 
Most of the people cannot conceive this because they are 
forever looking for literary and philosophical ideas in 
sculpture. Sculpture is the art of forms. 

“T have created human bodies in various forms, in various 
natural forms. Nature is always beautiful. If nature 
sometimes appears too ugly it is simply because we do not 
understand it. And what a great number of artists are 
deforming nature by trying to interpret it!” 

“Have you noticed any new tendencies in art that show 
any promise?” J asked. 

“T think that we are becoming more sincere and I hope 
that our epoch will be marked by a growing sincerity, for 
all our hope and the future of art depend upon sincerity. 

“Much is being said about various new schools in art, 
about the ‘Futurists’ and others. But these do not exist. 
All these new styles and fads are devoid of any power. 
They are paradoxes.” 

“If you were asked to give a few rules of advice to 
young sculptors, what would you suggest to them?” I asked. 


AUGUSTE RODIN 135 


“First of all, I must recommend study. We must study 
hard and be sincere. We must learn to admire nature, and 
admire the Greeks, who were in this respect sincerer than 
all of us. We must copy them—or rather no, not copy 
them, that would be bad. We should introduce the sin- 
cerity and the methods of the Greeks into the different arts. 
In modelling a Dutch woman we can employ the methods 
of the Greek. The Greek power of modelling must be suc- 
cessful even if the subject be an American woman. It is 
the form and the sincerity and the power of modelling that 
have made Greek art so perfect.” 

I asked Rodin to mention the names of his favorite 
authors who influenced his life. 

“The Romans, the Greeks, Dante and Shakespeare,”’ re- 
plied the French sculptor. 

Toward the end of the interview, Mr. Rodin said of the 
feminist movement: 

‘There is something very good in that campaign. They 
want to have men understand and appreciate that they pos- 
sess a value. They want to demonstrate to men that there 
is some value in women which men lose by not understand- 
ing them. ‘The suffragettes are only trying to prove their 
value. Man has weakened in the course of his work of 
research and eager quest for money, while women have in 
the meantime become superior to men in their love.” 


HAVELOCK ELLIS 


London, ror2. 


Havetock E tis has long been recognized as an authority 
on woman. His works on “Man and Woman,” “The 
Psychology of Sex,”’ his scientific studies in the psychology 
of women are widely known throughout the world and have 
been translated into almost all languages used by civilized 
peoples. Aside from these important works, he depicted 
in masterly manner more than twenty years ago the new 
spirit of literature as voiced by Diderot, Heine, Whitman 
and Tolstoy. He was also the first to direct the attention 
of English reading people to the philosophy of Friedrich 
Nietzsche. 

I met Mr. Havelock Ellis in his Brixton home. He 
looks a little older than he really is. He is only fifty-three 
years of age. But he is youthful and vigorous in spirit 
and he speaks with the simplicity and modesty character- 
istic of really great men. 

“Fortunately for America and for American women, you 
have not the same problems to contend with, and American 
women do not employ the methods that are used by the 
leaders of the woman’s movement in England,” said Mr. 
Ellis. ‘“There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that 
these methods are causing a great deal of injury to woman’s 
cause. Personally I have great admiration for the women, 
but I believe that their tactics of concentrating on the vote 
as the only solution of their problem and their use of vio- 


lence are not calculated to help them.” 
136 


HAVELOCK ELLIS 137 


“What methods would you suggest that would help 
their cause?’’ I asked. 

“Wherever women have secured their rights, as in Fin- 
land, for instance, they have attained their aims because 
they stood beside the men, not against them. Besides, 
they should not try to emulate men in their methods, but 
should rather go along their own lines, and they would be 
much more successful. I quite agree with Olive Schreiner, 
who believes that women should not concentrate on the 
suffrage.” 

“What, then, are the ends women ought to work for in- 
stead of concentrating on the suffrage?” 

“T regard economic independence as far more funda- 
mental than the franchise,” replied Mr. Ellis. “Women 
ought to do everything instead of doing one thing, harping 
on the right to vote. They ought to be active in the arts, 
in literature, in social work, and they will also get the 
suffrage in the right way. 

“England is a very old country, we are old fashioned 
here, in a good sense, and everything moves slowly. ‘This 
is why the methods of the suffragettes do more harm than 
good to the cause of woman. It is, of course, different in 
new countries, such as America, for instance. There you 
may attain results more rapidly, because you are accustomed 
to doing new things. It is hard to understand why the 
leading suffragettes in England are forever attacking the 
politicians. As a matter of fact the politicians have al- 
ways been in favor of woman suffrage more than any other 
portion of the community. 

“The chief point against the movement demanding votes 
for women is that the majority of women in England do 
not want the franchise. ‘Therefore, I think it will be much 


138 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


better when the desire on the part of the women to vote 
comes naturally, and I feel sure that when the majority of 
English women really want the suffrage they will certainly 
get it.” 

Mr. Ellis said that people are in most cases wrong in 
their estimates of women and their views. 

“TI have observed that women will sometimes do exactly 
the opposite of what they are expected todo. The women 
whose views were asked at a large meeting with regard to 
divorce proved quite a revelation to those who consider 
themselves judges of women’s ways and thoughts. The 
majority of the women present at that large gathering ex- 
pressed themselves in favor of divorce by mutual agree- 
ment. At another congress the majority of women declared 
against the religious education of children. And the 
women in the Finnish Parliament surprised the male rep- 
resentatives of the people by talking about 50 per cent. less 
than the men. 

“Thus you can never tell what women will do, but in my 
opinion they are making a grave mistake by morbidly con- 
centrating on the point of the vote, caring for nothing else. 
The longest way around is very often the shortest way 
home. Mill said many years ago that women have to edu- 
cate themselves. This is true to-day as well. 

“After all, it is only a small section of women that cares 
for politics. Women who have had the municipal vote 
have not used it. The vote is only of minor importance. 
In Germany the woman’s movement is conducted along 
different lines—there it is a movement for giving women 
emotional rights. And the list of names of representative 
people all over the world, indorsing the methods and 
aims of the German woman’s movement, is one that the 


HAVELOCK ELLIS 139 


English suffragettes could hardly secure for their cause.” 

‘What do you think of the work of women in art and 
literature in recent years?” I asked. 

“T think that a good drama written by a woman or an 
important novel produced by a woman does more good for 
the woman’s cause than any of the militant methods of the 
suffragettes. But I must say that too many women who 
have no business to devote their time to writing are giv- 
ing themselves to what they call the artistic life. They 
are thus wasting their lives and doing things that are 
useless. 

“I do not think women have any special aptitude for 
the arts, though they have produced some good novels. 
But there is such a great field for women in which they 
really excel—I mean social work. They are specially 
gifted for this sphere of activity and such work is 
much more important than art. Art is after all merely a 
luxury.” 

“Would you call the great artistic masterpieces merely 
a luxury?’ I asked. 

“No, I would not go as far as that. But it is more 
important to have a healthy home than to write a novel. 
Real art, as I pointed out years ago, as a many-sided and 
active delight in the wholeness of things, is the great re- 
storer of health and rest to the energies distracted by our 
turbulent modern movements. . Thus understood it has the 
firmest scientific foundations. Its satisfaction means the 
presence of joy in our daily life, and joy is the prime tonic 
of life. | 

“Tt is the gratification of the art instinct that makes the 
wholesome stimulation of labor joyous. It is in the grati- 
fication of the art instinct that repose becomes joyous. We 


140 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


have already an art in which our desires and struggles and 
ideals are faithfully mirrored for the great mass of people. 
But nowadays too many women, for that matter too 
many men, are devoting themselves to what they call art 
without having the slighest aptitude for it and they 
are merely wasting their energy.” 

Mr. Ellis spoke of the influence of Nietzsche and Tolstoy 
upon life and literature and then related how he had 
planned to visit the great Russian at Yasnaya Polyana 
fifteen years ago. 

“Of all your meetings with distinguished men I envy 
you your meeting with Tolstoy,” said Mr. Ellis. “Tolstoy 
was the only man of letters I was really eager to meet. He 
was not only the greatest writer of his time, but also the 
greatest personality. And that is even more important 
than to be a great writer. 

“I was in Moscow about fifteen years ago and was to 
leave for Yasnaya Polyana when I received word from 
Tolstoy that one of his children was taken ill with typhoid 
and, therefore, he could not receive me. I visited Russia 
and I visited Spain a number of times and I admire both 
the Russian and the Spanish peoples—they are both 
unfortunate.” 

“Perhaps that is the reason why you admire them above 
others?” I suggested. | 

“Perhaps. Some of their best qualities are thus brought 
out. They are of course not perfect from a political view- 
point. I certainly do not admire the politics of these 
countries. But the political activities of a nation do not 
always mar it or make it perfect. The trouble is that peo- 
ple speaking of Russia often confound the people with the 


' « HAVELOCK ELLIS 141 


Government. There the line between the Government and 
the people is drawn very distinctly.” 

Mr. Ellis referred to Mr. Roosevelt’s views on race 
suicide. He said: 

“We have bishops in England—unmarried, of course,— 
who are preaching large families. Mr. Roosevelt ought to 
go to Russia and to China, the countries with an enormously 
high birth rate and all its dreadful results. To my mind 
civilization, progress and a low birth rate go together.” 

“There has been progress in China of late.”’ 

“Yes, and in connection with this let me tell you what a 
lady who recently returned from China has told me. The 
English lady visited a Chinese school. She asked the chil- 
dren what they wanted to know about her country. The 
children begged her to tell them all about the suffragettes. 
Now, little girls that want to hear mainly about suffragettes 
are not likely to have large families when they grow up.” 

Of the unrest among the working people of England, 
Mr. Ellis said: 

“The wave of unrest here as well as elsewhere is the 
result of prosperity. It is only when working people are 
better off that they can better afford to strike. JI am, of 
course, in sympathy with bettering the condition of the 
working people, but I believe they are like the suffragettes, 
especially in England, where things move so slowly. They 
should also go more slowly and they will attain their aims 
naturally.” 

Speaking of American literature, Mr. Ellis said: 

“T cannot say who is my favorite American author. The 
writers in America are not keeping pace with the greatness 
of their country. America produced one supreme artist— 


142 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Poe. The other great writers produced by America were 
Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau. But the Americans are too 
busy to produce a real literature. You must not be too 
busy, you must have more dreamers if you would produce 
a literature of importance. The atmosphere of America 
does not seem to be favorable to literature to-day. It was 
more so half a century ago. The conditions of New Eng- 
land were certainly favorable in this sense, but those condi- 
tions have now almost disappeared.” 


HENRI BERGSON 


Paris, May, 1972. 
Durinc my stay in Paris I was delighted to receive an in- 
vitation to meet the man who is regarded as the profoundest 
and most original thinker in France to-day, Prof. Henri 
Bergson. 

Bergson’s works, ““Time and Free Will,’ “Matter and 
Memory,” “Creative Evolution,” and his essay on “‘Laugh- 
ter,’ have been translated into many languages and his 
influence is making itself felt in many lands. In England 
Bergson is well known and well liked and the English claim 
a special share in him, for they believe that Bergson’s mode 
of thinking was determined by his close study of the Eng- 
lish philosophers, by the influence of Herbert Spencer and 
John Stuart Mill, of Locke, Berkeley and Hume. 

In Germany Bergson’s works are attracting much atten- 
tion. Hermann Graf Keyserling, the distinguished Ger- 
man writer, says of Bergson’s work: “His philosophy is 
perhaps the most original work since the days of Immanuel 
Kant.” In Russia various editions of his works have ap- 
peared and numerous studies by the foremost Russian pub- 
licists are published from time to time. In France Prof. 
Bergson is extremely popular. Unlike most philosophers 
that preceded him he is a prophet honored in his own land. 
He is the most popular of lecturers and his lecture room is 
always crowded with students as well as with women of 
fashionable society. The Bergson school of philosophy is 

143 


144. THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


in great vogue. It appeals alike to the deep student and 
to the faddist. 

An acute thinker, Prof. Bergson possesses a masterly, 
clear and direct style. He presents his views on most diffi- 
cult themes with fascinating clearness. Every great thinker 
treats the eternal problems in some new way, and though so 
many influences are claimed to have shaped the thoughts 
and philosophy of Bergson, he is original, for he has treated 
the great problems of life in an entirely new way. 

Bergson does not give us a definite system. But he opens 
wide the door of the future and shows us a great variety 
of new ways and new aims and new possibilities. 

Mr. Carr, in his able little work on Bergson’s “Philosophy 
of Change,’ which was revised by Bergson himself, has 
summarized the philosophy of Bergson in the following 
terms: 

“Philosophy reveals to us a reality that is consistent with 
the satisfaction of our highest ideals. It discloses the life 
of the spirit. It may give us neither God nor immortality 
in the old theological meaning of these terms and it does 
not show us human life and individual conduct as the chief 
end, purpose and center of interest. But the reality of life 
is essentially freedom. Philosophy delivers us from the 
crushing feeling of necessity that the scientific conception 
of a closed mechanical universe has imposed on modern 
thought. Life is a free activity in the open universe. We 
may be of little account in the great whole. Humanity 
itself and the planet on which it has won its success may be 
an infinitesimal part of the universal life, but it is one and 
identical with that life and our struggle and striving is the 
impetus of life. And this, above all, our spiritual life 


HENRI BERGSON | 145 


means to us, the past has not perished, the future is be- 
ing made.” 

I met Prof. Bergson in his home, in Villa Montmorency, 
in Auteil, Paris. He spoke with enthusiasm about America 
and American thinkers and never tired of expressing his 
admiration for the late William James. Prof. Bergson 
is looking forward with great interest to his first visit to 
America, next January, when he will come both to teach 
and to study us. 

“You are doing such an immense deal of work in philoso- 
phy and psychology in America, and such splendid work,” 
began the French philosopher. “The quality of the work 
done by American philosophers and psychologists is really 
remarkable. I consider William James one of the greatest 
men America has produced. J may even say, one of the 
great men of all countries and all times. I knew him well. 
I met him and spoke with him a number of times and I cor- 
responded with him considerably. He was a wonderful 
man. But there are a number of other great psychologists in 
America. You have Muensterberg, Royle and many 
others.” 

“T understand that you are engaged upon a new volume 
in the form of dialogues. May I know with what subject 
you are dealing in your forthcoming work?” I asked. 

“IT have a special way of working,” replied M. Bergson. 
“T may call it an anarchistic way. When I take up a new 
subject I just work it out in my own way. I take several 
avenues in my efforts to attain results. Very often I gain 
much information in the course of my work upon certain 
subjects, but no precise work comes out of it. So I really 
cannot say whether the book upon which I am engaged now 


146 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


will come out or not, for I am only in the process of build- 
ing it. As yet I-cannot say whether I shall succeed in 
building it up or not. 

“T have no system in philosophy. I have no simple set 
of rules from which I could evolve my philosophy. In 
philosophy there are different problems and each problem 
must be solved by special methods. The methods em- 
ployed in solving one problem will not do when you attempt 
to solve another problem. I cannot always deduce from 
answers I have already given the answers to other prob- 
lems. ‘There must be a new answer to every new question. 

‘IT was once interviewed by a correspondent who wanted 
me to answer a number of questions. I told him that I 
had no opinion on those questions. I said that each of 
those questions would take from ten to fifteen years to an- 
swer, and if he would come back fifteen years later I might 
be able to give him the answer.” 

“But there are general questions on which you have 
formed opinions, and I would like to know your views on 
some of these questions,” I remarked. 

“Oh, yes, there are provisional answers. But an opin- 
ion is of no great importance if it is given in an ofthand 
manner. One must be impregnated with the subject; one 
must study and analyze it thoroughly and have intuition. 
Now, intuition is not at all guess work. Many mistakes 
have been made by those who speak of my theory of ‘in- 
tuition’ as guess work. I believe it is necessary to be im- 
pregnated with the subject if we would find a solution to 
it. We must constantly learn. We must become students 
again. We must start the subject anew. And that may 
lead us to a new science. I have several times become a 
student again. I have several times taken up a new sub- 


HENRI BERGSON 147 


ject. My present work will deal with ethics and aesthetics, 
with the principles of morals and the principles of art. 

“I have been greatly impressed with a work on ethics 
written by Prof. Dewey. I find the book very interesting, 
very original and quite new.” 

Prof. Bergson paused a while. Then he added: 

“T am interested in the various religious movements in 
America, as far as they touch upon the ethical questions. 
I am interested in the ethical culture movement. I have 
met Prof. Felix Adler and am greatly interested in his 
work. He impressed me as a very penetrating and earnest 
man, and I think he will succeed, for I believe that his move- 
ment has a future. | 

‘TI am interested in the religious movements in America 
because it strikes me that there is more life in America in 
this direction. In America religious and ethical questions 
are becoming a living study, while with us in Europe they 
remain theoretical questions. But to my great regret I 
shall have no time during my brief stay in America to 
study closely any of these movements.” 

“What accounts for this difference in religious move- 
ments between America and Europe?” 

“First of all the Americans are practical people. They 
are supposed to be the most practical people in the world 
to-day. They want definite rules for conduct and ethics. 
It is a curious fact that modern philosophers have neglected 
this. Leibnitz and others have given us systems of ethics, 
but their systems are too general. Even Kant in his great 
work on ethics, in his masterpiece on practical reason, laid 
down formulas that are far too vague to be of any use in 
practical life. Kant said: ‘Always act so that your ac- 
tion may become a universal law.’ 


148 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“This is not quite easy to apply in practical life. Try 
to apply this formula to the problem of capital and labor, 
to the differences between employer and workman. Each 
one would attempt to act so that his action might become 
a universal law. How are we to judge who of the two is 
right? Each of them would claim that his action should 
be the universal law. And there is no real ethics without 
real answers to these most difficult questions. Of course, 
a philosopher’s answers cannot be as precise as the answers 
of a mathematician. 

‘“‘America seems to realize that the philosophers have not 
given the real answers to the vital questions. And, there- 
fore, there is a great feeling for these religious and ethical 
movements in America. I am deeply interested in this re- 
lation between religion and ethics.”’ 

“You have written in some of your works about the im- 
mortality of the soul,” I said. ‘Have you made any 
further investigations into this subject?” 

“T have studied the diseases of the mind and the dis- 
eases of memory and of certain cases in which I could see 
the precise relation between mind and memory. I have 
come to the conclusion that it is a mistake to think that 
the work of the mind and of the brain is identical. Only 
a small part of the work done by the mind is done by the 
brain. The brain is only a province of the mind. The 
mind represents a country and the brain is only one of its 
provinces. ‘The work done by the country is immensely 
wider in scope than that done by the province. The death 
of the brain is a probability. But I have found that the 
mind goes on living after the brain has died. From this 
I concluded that the mind survives the body. I cannot say 


a _ 


HENRI BERGSON 149 


definitely that the mind is immortal, but there is a strong 
probability that it is. 

“Modern philosophy is a study that can go on doing 
further work in this direction. Philosophy, like science, 
can make progress. There is still progress to be made in 
science; there is still some distance to go in that domain.” 

“Are you interested in any of the new movements in art 
and in literature?’ 

“T am interested in anything that shows talent,” replied 
M. Bergson, with a smile. _ “Any school is interesting if 
it shows talent. I do not believe in any special schools of 
art, in any special methods. In literature and in art 
schools, methods are nothing. Genius is everything. 

“T recall one day a correspondent came to interview me 
about the original exhibition of the ‘Cubists.’ Their idea 
was that any painting must be made of squares. He 
wanted to know my opinion about the ‘Cubists.’ My an- 
swer was that I preferred genius. The same I may say 
about the ‘Futurists.’ As far as I know, the fashion has 
been to have genius first. Then a system and methods 
were evolved. I believe that real genius creates its own 
methods. So with regard to all new movements and new 
schools, J must say that they must first have gentus.” 

‘Who are your favorite authors of to-day?” I asked. 

“We have quite a number of geniuses in our literature. 
Maeterlinck, Pierre Loti, Bourget: But perhaps the most 
remarkable writer, who is not exactly as good a novelist as 
a musician in words, is Maurice Barrés. In this respect, 
as a prose poet, he can rank with the greatest. But his 
style is so unique that it would be difficult to translate him 
without losing much of the beauty of his work. 


150 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“Then there is, of course, Anatole France. I have men- 
tioned chiefly French writers, for I understand French litera- 
ture best. JI am not very familiar with Anglo-American 
literature. You see, it is impossible to do two things well 
at the same time, and I must choose between one and the 
other—between my work and the reading of foreign litera- 
ture. I consider Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky the greatest 
masters of fiction. Dostoyevsky was almost unconscious 
in his art. He did not describe things but he somehow 
made you see and feel them. His works are most impor- 
tant to psychologists. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky have seen 
the human soul naked and they have seen it in action and 
have reproduced it. Of the two Tolstoy was the more 
many-sided genius. 

“T have great admiration for Emerson and Poe. The 
work of Poe is so vivid and his poetry is so musical, and 
it is charged with such deep feeling, that I remember it 
distinctly although I read it many years ago. Emerson I 
have re-read recently. J am not familiar with the works of 
Henry James, but his brother told me that Henry re-wrote 
his prefaces and parts of his works for his new edition. 
To me this is a sign of a great writer. Only great artists 
go to the trouble of doing this. They are moved by really 
artistic feelings. Shaw? Yes, I certainly admire him. I 
have not read all his works, but I have laid them aside and 
intend to take them up upon the first occasion.” 

“What are your views on the feministic movement in 
Europe and America?” 

“T have not found any difference of level between the 
male and female mind,” replied Bergson. “‘Women have 
not yet had the chance to produce philosophic work. But 
judging by the average aptitude, men and women are equal. 


HENRI BERGSON 151 


When I lectured to male and female students I experi- 
mented by giving the same subject for compositions to men 
and women. The results were that the papers could be 
mixed up and it would have been difficult to tell which were 
written by the men and which by the women. There is no 
real difference. The question whether women could give 
as many philosophers as men have given will be seen in 
time. I see absolutely no reason why women could not 
produce work of the same quality. Only now we shall see 
what they can accomplish, now that they are getting the 
same education. We shall be the witnesses of a great ex- 
periment. 

“Half of mankind is now submitting to the same edu- 
cation that the other half has been getting. The growth 
of the woman’s movement, the rapidity of its development 
socially and politically, is astounding. When I was a 
young man IJ could not even conceive that such a movement 
could grow so rapidly. Therefore, when you ask me about 
the woman’s movement, I say I am for experimenting, but 
I must add that it is a dangerous experiment; since half 
of the people would suddenly get votes. I think it should 
be done gradually. Women have thus far not had the 
interest in politics and could not be expected to have the 
aptitude for it. I certainly do not approve of the militant 
methods of the suffragettes. I know that wherever there 
is enthusiasm there is violence, but the women are injuring 
their own cause.” 

In speaking of the many races emigrating to the United 
States and the effect of immigrants upon the American type 
the great French philosopher said: 

“I have been much struck by the fact that though dif- 
ferent races have come to America there is an original type 


152 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


there; though so many elements go to shape the population 
of your great centers there is a distinct American type. 
Since there is no tendency on the part of the immigrants 
to remain separate I feel that much good will come from 
this mixture of the races. You have more reading of news- 
papers, current literature, and you have more schools. 

“To my mind, the richer a temperament the better. The 
more elements constitute the population of America the 
more privileged America will be, the richer and the stronger. 
I am greatly struck by the generosity and broad-mindedness 
of the American people. It is certainly a great moral 
lesson to Europe.”’ 

Concerning the Jewish question and the Zionist move- 
ment Prof. Bergson, who is himself a Jew, said: 

“To us French people this question seems paradoxical. 
We are so assimilated. If there were a new Zion I do not 
think many Jews would go there. A prominent Jewish 
statesman when asked in 1848 what he thought of Zionism 
replied that he would be in favor of Zionism if he were 
given the post of Jewish Ambassador to Paris.” 

“But for the oppressed and the persecuted?’ I asked. 

“That is another question. Oppressed people must look 
for ways and they are justified in seeking a home. Whether 
it would be possible to solve the Jewish question in that 
way I cannot answer. Russia may become more tolerant. 
The Jews of other countries have attained equal rights. 
After equal rights have been secured by the Jews I believe 
the Jewish question will be solved. I do not much be- 
lieve in permanent special qualities of races. Nature is 
very often nothing else than habit and education. 

“There are racial differences between the white, yellow 
and black races, but there is no difference in the white races. 


HENRI BERGSON 153 


People can adopt the qualities, the defects and the habits 
of the people among whom they live. In Europe we see 
that the difference in races is nothing but habit, education 
and the degree of living together. It is a mistake in psy- 
chology that much is ascribed to nature which should be 
ascribed to habit. 

“I doubt whether the Jews have any special hereditary 
defects or qualities, considering that their blood has been 
so mixed—very much more than is believed. Whole tribes 
in Russia were converted to Judaism. I believe the Jewish | 
question will be solved when the Jewish people will have 
attained equal rights in the countries where they are being 
persecuted. And the sooner that is attained the better for 
the Jews of course, and also for the countries where they 
hveic 


POPE BENEDICT XV 


Rome, rors. 

Durinc my visit to London in 1915 I made the acquaint- 
ance of a French statesman who informed me of the deep 
interest the Vatican was taking in the plight of the Jewish 
people in the war zone. I was investigating for my news- 
paper the condition of the Jews in the war-stricken coun- 
tries and was naturally eager to ascertain at first hand 
the views of the Holy See on this subject and to ob- 
tain, if possible, the information the Vatican had re- 
ceived concerning the Jews in Poland and the provinces oc- 
cupied by Russia, Germany and Austria. 

I was also eager to learn the circumstances under which 
the Pope had made his forceful appeal to the rulers of the 
belligerent nations in July, 1915. 

The French statesman, to whom I was introduced by a 
friend of mine, a prominent London editor, expressed his 
readiness to arrange for me an audience with the Pope. 
On my arrival in Paris several days afterward I found a 
telegraphic communication informing me that the Pope 
would receive me in private audience. 

I started for Rome immediately. Before my audience 
with Pope Benedict I had several interviews with Cardinal 
Gasparri, the Papal Secretary of State, who impressed 
me as a brilliant statesman, closely familiar with interna- 
tional affairs, and as a man of deep sympathies. 


On August 21, 1915, at eight o’clock in the morning, I 
154 


POPE BENEDICT XV iss 


had the good fortune of a private audience with Pope 
Benedict which lasted one hour and a quarter. 

Pope Benedict received me most cordially in his large 
and beautiful library. Through the courtesy of Cardinal 
Gasparri, an exception was made in my case, and I did 
not have to go through the ceremonies with which an 
audience with the Pope is usually surrounded. It was a 
simple yet most impressive meeting. The Pope, dressed 
in a white robe, was at his writing desk when Cardinal Gas- 
parri introduced me. The French statesman was also with 
us. After an exchange of greetings the Pope inquired first 
about conditions in America, about the attitude of the 
American people toward the war and then he asked about 
the Jews in the war zone. 

I gave him my views on the subjects in which he was 
interested. [I also called his attention to the fact that un- 
der the influence of the Russian autocracy, which always 
sought to incite one portion of the population against an- 
other, the Poles conducted an intense anti-Jewish campaign, 
which was cruel and far reaching in its effects upon Jewish 
life in Poland, and which also alienated the sympathy of 
many friends of Polish independence and freedom. 

I pointed out that the militant anti-Jewish campaign in 
Poland helped only the Russian autocracy, while injuring 
both the Jews and the Poles themselves. 

The Pope displayed a keen interest in the subject and a 
familiarity with conditions in Russia that was amazing. 
He said in a soft tone, apparently deeply moved :— 

“T know about the tragedy of the Jewish people in Rus- 
sia. Their sufferings have touched my heart. I have re- 
ceived reports from my bishops about the persecution of 
the Jewish people in Russia. I know about the wholesale 


156 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


expulsions of entire communities, about the wholesale un- 
founded accusations against the Jewish people, about their 
great sacrifices and their terrible sufferings. 

“T am aware of the fact that this anti-Jewish manifesta- 
tion has been stimulated in Poland by the Russian govern- 
ment. The Polish people are themselves suffering untold 
hardships, my heart is bleeding for their sorrows in this 
war, and my own bishops have been treated cruelly and 
mercilessly by the government of the Tsar.” 

The Pope then referred to several petitions he had re- 
ceived from Galician Jews and to letters he had received 
from distinguished Jews in various belligerent countries 
depicting the plight of the Jewish people in the war zone. 
He declared that if the American Jews, representatives of 
the Jewish community of the greatest neutral Power, would 
present some of the facts in the form of an address he would 
be glad to answer by a public letter and send a circular 
letter to various countries stating that it was un-Christian 
to be anti-Jewish. He said he was an energetic enemy of 
anti-Semitism and would denounce it upon every occasion. 

“T am, and we all are—always—for liberty. I am a 
power for liberty,” he said. “‘Also a power for peace.” 

It was at this point that I mentioned the remarkable 
appeal of Pope Benedict addressed to the nations then at 
war and to their rulers, in July, 1915. 

“Yes,” he repeated, “we must remember that nations do 
not die. Humbled and oppressed, they chafe under the 
yoke imposed upon them, preparing a renewal of the combat 
and passing down from generation to generation a mourn- 
ful heritage of hatred and revenge.” 

The Pope expressed his great admiration for President 
Wilson as a brilliant statesman, as a great leader and power 


POPE BENEDICT XV 197 


for peace. He declared that he had watched his efforts in 
behalf of peace and that he himself would continue his 
work for peace. 

He said he understood the Kaiser was at that time ready 
to propose peace to France upon the following conditions :— 

1. The evacuation of Belgium and France. 

2. The reconstruction of Poland as an independent State. 

3. The cession of Alsace-Lorraine in exchange for a 

French colony. 

4. The internationalization of Constantinople. 

The French statesman who was present at the audience 
declared it as his opinion that France would not accept 
peace in any case admitting the cession of Alsace-Lorraine 
in exchange for a French colony. 

“T believe,’ remarked Cardinal Gasparri, “Germany 
would not insist upon the colony.” 

“The arrangements made by the French government with 
England and Russia will not allow a separate peace, such 
as these terms would seem to indicate,” said the French 
statesman. 

The Pope then spoke again of his absolute neutrality. 

‘We reprove injustice, on whatever side it may have been 
committed,” he said. “I love all the children of God 
equally and I suffer when they suffer. I have pointed out 
in my recent letter to the rulers of the nations at war that 
it is high time to weigh with a serene mind the rights and 
aspirations of the peoples, to initiate an exchange of views 
with the object of holding in due account, within the limits 
of possibility, those rights and aspirations, and thus succeed 
in putting an end to the monstrous struggle. 

“The equilibrium of the world, and the prosperity and 
assured tranquillity of nations rests upon mutual benevo- 


158 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


lence and respect for the rights and dignity of others much 
more than upon hosts of armed men and a ring of formi- 
dable fortresses.”’ 

The Pope then wished me success in my investigations 
concerning the condition of the Jews in the war-stricken 
countries and said that he would do everything within his 
power to aid in ameliorating their condition. 

“But I know it is a difficult task to ascertain the facts 
just now,” he remarked. “With all my Catholic agents I 
have not been able to learn what has become of the arch- 
bishop of Lemberg, who was seized by the Russian troops.” 

“You really do not know at this moment where he is?” 
I inquired. 

“No,” replied the Pope, “I do not even know whether 
he is alive.” 

Then he told the story of the unfortunate archbishop of 
Lemberg and also that of Cardinal Mercier. He pointed 
out how the Vatican was affected by the war both by the 
Allies and the Central Powers, which made his neutrality 
imperative. 

I asked the Pope whether he believed the end of the war 
would see the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah of 
universal and lasting peace. 

“Tt is hard to prophesy,” said the Pope. 

“Under these august vaults prophecy is a tradition,” re- 
marked the French statesman. 

“Not now,” said the Pope with a smile. “Not now.” 

The Pope then inquired about conditions in Mexico. 

“In Mexico, as elsewhere, all we want is liberty,” he said 
slowly. “Liberty and justice.” 

In answer to my question about his views regarding the 
aspirations of the Zionists the Pope said :— 


POPE BENEDICT XV 159 


“T am in sympathy with the Jewish national aspirations 
in Palestine. We want liberty and justice, just as the 
Jews want liberty and justice everywhere.” 

After a cordial handshake the pontifical audience ended. 

Cardinal Gasparri told me he was greatly interested in 
the United States. He spoke in terms of great admiration 
for President Wilson and expressed a profound sympathy 
for the Jewish people whose plight in the war zone was 
tragic. 

I remarked that the Pope had rendered a great humane 
service by calling attention to the terrible persecutions of 
the Jews in Russia during the war, especially by making 
known the fact that fifteen hundred Jews, men, women and 
children had been placed in front of the Russian armies on 
one occasion and fired upon by the troops of the Central 
Powers. 

Cardinal Gasparri said the Vatican had received informa- 
tion from its own Catholic correspondents concerning the 
horrors perpetrated by the Russian government. He de- 
clared that the Vatican had endeavored through those cor- 
respondents to do everything possible to end the atrocities, 
but all efforts proved futile. Cardinal Gasparri said the 
Jewish persecutions in Russia were part of a governmental 
policy and that the Catholics also suffered severely at the 
hands of the Russian government shortly after the outbreak 
of the war, particularly in the provinces occupied by the 
Russian troops in Galicia. He then spoke of the Catholic 
archbishop of Lemberg, who, without the slightest cause, 
was brutally removed from his home and banished, to- 
gether with five hundred Catholic priests. 

“We cannot make any official protest out of courtesy to 
France and England, the allies of Russia,” said the Cardinal 


160 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Secretary of State. “At the same time, we were reproached 
by the governments of those two nations for not having 
registered a more vigorous protest against the German gov- 
ernment for the imprisonment of Cardinal Mercier, arch- 
bishop of Malines.”’ 

Cardinal Gasparri added that it was very difficult for 
the Vatican to receive complete reports from Russian ter- 
ritory and that the Minister of Russia at the Vatican had 
evidently been instructed by his government to deny every- 
thing. He again expressed a deep interest in my own in- 
vestigation of the condition of the Jews. 

“The Vatican will be glad to help any such investigation 
to the limits of its neutrality,” said the Cardinal. “His 
Holiness has been accused on several occasions, by one side 
or the other, of having violated such neutrality, just as 
President Wilson has been accused of being unneutral, but 
I can assure you His Holiness has pursued a policy of ab- 
solute neutrality in every respect, and J am pleased to ob- 
serve that in such cases as the sinking of the Lus¢tania, both 
President Wilson and the Pope acted along the same lines. 

“As for the Jews,’’ remarked Cardinal Gasparri, “the 
Papacy has not changed its views and its attitude toward 
them. The Old Testament is the father of the New. 
Whenever an appeal came to the Vatican from persecuted 
Jews, especially in recent years, the Popes never failed to 
speak in their defense. You doubtless recall the statement 
of the Holy See in the outrageous Beilis affair, in which the 
Vatican denounced the ritual murder accusation against the 
Jews.” 

I asked about the reports to the effect that the Pope de- 
sired to be a member of the peace congress at the close of 
the war. Cardinal Gasparri’s answer was:— 


POPE BENEDICT XV 1601 


“It should be clearly understood in the United States 
and elsewhere that there is no truth at all in any reports 
that the Pope wishes to go to the peace congress to re- 
store temporal power. His, Holiness declares solemnly 
that if he should go to the congress, nobody will raise the 
question of temporal power. If he were not to go there, 
there would be at least two belligerent nations, one of 
them Germany, who will ask for the restoration of that 
power. 

“His Holiness would like to see the United States act as 
the peace mediator.” 

Then he added :— 

“T have no doubt that you could do me a service. You 
have read the pontifical letter on peace. We sent that let- 
ter to the rulers of the belligerent nations. We have not 
yet sent it to the neutral Powers. I am authorized by His 
Holiness to hand you a copy of that letter with a personal 
dedication to His Excellency, President Wilson, and I 
would be grateful to you if you would present it to him 
when you return to America.” 

I declared that I would be glad to do this. 

Pope Benedict left with me the impression not only of 
a great religious and moral leader, but also of a brilliant 
statesman. It was evident that he was suffering because 
of the horrors of the war and his efforts for peace seemed 
to me prompted by a wholehearted desire to see a just and 
durable peace on earth and real good will to men. 

Upon my return to America, I presented the autographed 
letter to the President, who expressed his appreciation and 
thanks to the Pope. 

I also informed The American Jewish Committee that 
the Pope was willing to issue a declaration regarding anti- 


162 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Semitism, denouncing anti-Jewish persecutions as un- 
Christian, if he received an official request from a rep- 
resentative Jewish organization. I arranged for a meeting 
of members of the executive committee of the American 
Jewish Committee with Monsignor Bonzano, then papal 
delegate to the United States, and the matter of anti- 
Jewish persecution was discussed. 

The following letter was forwarded to Pope Benedict 
XV by the American Jewish Committee: 


“New York, December 30, r9r5. 


“Your Hotiness: 

“The petitioners, who are citizens of the United States 
of America and adherents of the Jewish faith, have learned 
with increasing horror of the unspeakable cruelties and 
hardships visited upon their co-religionists in various bellig- 
erent lands since the outbreak of the present world-conflict. 
Far beyond the sufferings which this calamity has inflicted 
upon those of other faiths, and in addition to the ravages 
and destruction occasioned by the clash of the contending 
armies to all who come within the sphere of their hostilities, 
the Jews have been marked for special persecution and have 
been subjected to oppressive measures not borne by their 
compatriots of other creeds. ‘Passion and prejudice have 
been fomented against our unhappy brethren, frequently by 
those who bear the same political allegiance, until their lot 
has ceased to be endurable. In some of the lands where 
they have long resided their neighbors are bent upon their 
annihilation, practicing against them the most refined 
cruelty, and in many instances by means of an economic 
boycott condemning them to literal starvation. We submit 


POPE BENEDICT XV 163 


herewith ascertained facts which tell but in small part the 
hideous truth. 

“Fully persuaded that had Your Holiness been ac- 
quainted with these facts the Holy See would at once have 
exercised the profound moral, ethical and religious influ- 
ence with which the Roman Catholic Church is endowed, 
upon those who regard Your Holiness as their Shepherd, 
but who have unfortunately participated in this persecu- 
tion, with all due veneration we now approach the Supreme 
Pontiff for succor in this the bitter hour of our need, know- 
ing the exemplary humanity for which Your Holiness is 
justly distinguished. It is our sincere prayer that the oc- 
casion may be deemed a fitting one for resort to the au- 
thority vested in the Sovereign of the great Roman Catholic 
Hierarchy, to urge his ‘Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and 
Priests to admonish their flocks to hold in abhorrence these 
acts of persecution, of prejudice and of cruelty, which have 
overwhelmed our unfortunate brethren. 

“We recall with admiration and gratitude that on many 
occasions in the past some of the revered predecessors of 
Your Holiness have under like conditions extended pro- 
tection to those of the Jewish faith, in the interest of right 
and justice. Appreciating the transcendent importance 
which the entire civilized world attaches to any utterance 
from so exalted a source of morality and wisdom as that 
which Your Holiness represents, we confidently express the 
hope that timely action will be taken by the Vatican, to 
the end that the sufferings under which millions of our 
brethren in faith are now weighed down may be terminated 
by an act of that humanity to which Your Holiness is so 
passionately devoted, and that the cruel intolerance and the 


164. THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


unjust prejudice which have been aroused against them may 
forever vanish before this glorious exercise of Your Su- 
preme Moral and Spiritual Power. 
“We beg Your Holiness to believe us to be, 
“Your most respectful petitioners, 
“Tur AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE. 
“Louris Marsuatt, President. 


“Tacos H. Scuirr, Cyrus ADLER, JuLIus RosENWALD, JAcoB H. HoLLANDER, 
A. Leo WEIL, Oscar S. STRAus, J. L. MAGNEs, ISAAC W. BERNHEIM, SAMUEL 
Dorr, IsADORE SOBEL, MAYER SULZBERGER, JULIAN W. MAcK, HArry CULTER, 
Cyrus L. SULZBERGER. 

“Executive Committee.” 


This petition called forth a reply from the Holy See, 
which was a virtual encyclical, and was followed by direc- 
tions to the Catholic clergy of Poland, admonishing them 
to use their best endeavors to put an end to the persecution 
which prevailed. 

Among all the papal bulls ever issued with regard to 
Jews throughout the history of the Vatican, there is no 
statement that equals this direct, unmistakable plea for 
equality for the Jews, and against prejudice upon religious 
grounds. The bull issued by Innocent IV declaring the 
Jews innocent of the charge of using Christian blood for 
ritual purposes, while a striking document, was after all 
merely a statement of fact, whereas this declaration by 
Pope Benedict XV was a plea against religious prejudice 
and persecution. 

Thus Pope Benedict XV displayed a deep concern in 
the tragedy of the Jews in the war. Passionately striv- 
ing to bring peace to the bleeding nations, he also spoke 
for the Jews, for the most wronged and most violated of 
peoples in the war zone. 


POPE BENEDICT XV 165 


The remarkable document follows: 


“SECRETARY OF STATE TO HIS HOLINESS. 
“THE VATICAN 
SOEs. 7;0720 February oth, ror6. 

“The Supreme Pontiff has with interest taken notice of 
the letter bearing date of December 30, 1915, which you 
have been pleased to address to him in the name of the three 
million Jewish citizens of the United States of America, in 
order to communicate to him generally the treatment to 
which your co-religionists complain that they have been ex- 
posed in various regions, and at the same time you have re- 
quested him to interpose the weight of his supreme moral 
and spiritual power in order that these sufferings may be 
terminated by an act of that humanity to which the Holy 
Father is so passionately devoted. 

“The Supreme Pontiff is unable to express himself con- 
cerning the special facts referred to in the memorandum 
submitted with your letter, but in principle, as the head of 
the Catholic Church, which, faithful to its divine doctrine 
and to its most glorious traditions, considers all men as 
brethren and teaches them to love one another, he will not 
cease to inculcate the observance among individuals as 
among nations the principles of human right, and to re- 
prove every violation of them. This right should be ob- 
served and respected in relation to the children of Israel as 
it should be to all men, for it would not conform to justice 
and to religion itself to derogate therefrom solely because 
of a difference of religious faith. 

“Moreover, in his paternal heart, pained by the spectacle 
of the existing horrible war, the Supreme Pontiff feels in 
this moment, more deeply than ever, the necessity that all 


166 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


men shall recollect that they are brothers and that their 
salvation lies in the return to the law of love, which is the 
law of the Gospels. He also desires to interest to this noble 
end all who, especially by reason of the sacred. attributes 
of their pastoral ministrations, are able to bring efficient 
aid to this important result. 

“In the meantime His Holiness rejoices in the unity 
which in civil matters exists in the United States of America 
among the members of the different faiths and which con- 
tributes so powerfully to the peaceful prosperity of your 
great country. He prays to God that peace may at length 
appear for the happiness of that humanity of which you 
truly say the Holy Father is the guardian. 

“Accept, gentlemen, the assurances of my most distin- 
guished and devoted sentiments. 

(Signed) “P. CarprinaL GasParRI. 


“To Mr. Louis MarsHatt, President, 
and to the Members of the Executive Committee 
of The American Jewish Committee.” 


HANS DELBRUECK 


Berlin, rors. 
Pror. Hans DELBRUECK, the famous German historian and 
the tutor of the Kaiser in his youth, was one of the few 
statesmen in Germany who correctly foretold the present 
war. 

In interviews and statements which I made public at the 
time Professor Delbrueck declared that while other Powers 
were dividing the world among themselves, taking all 
available colonies, Germany, the growing German nation, 
was asked to stand by and remain a mere unconcerned on- 
looker. He said that to grow in peace and develop Ger- 
many must have colonial possessions like the other great 
Powers. 

Prof. Delbrueck has written extensively on this sub- 
ject in the “‘Preussiche Jahrbuecher.”’ He is one of the 
important moulders of public opinion in Germany. 

I sought his views on war and peace, for his views are 
representative of a great element of the thinking German 
people. He is a conservative, progressive force, not a 
“militarist.” 

I said to him: “So many books have been published— 
books of all colors, red, white, blue, green, in fact, all the 
colors of the rainbow—concerning the outbreak of the war, 
that I should like to know from you the real cause of the 

9 


War. 


“Tt is very simple,” he replied. ‘‘Russia’s desire to se- 
167 


168 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


cure Constantinople, to destroy Austria and to conquer the 
northern part of Sweden led to this European conflict. 
This was Russia’s purpose, and Germany simply would not 
let her accomplish it. England desired to maintain the 
Entente, and by the ‘mechanism’ of the Entente she ts in 
thés war. 

“To put it briefly, the war was started by Patchitch in 
Belgrade, through Russian machinations. Then Russia 
came in. Then France and England joined. 

“Germany could neither permit the destruction of Austria 
nor the growth of Russia, particularly at the expense of the 
Turkish Empire. 

“Aside from these causes we are really in this war help- 
ing to bring liberty not only to the Poles and the other peo- 
ples inhabiting the provinces we have conquered, but we 
shall also bring liberty to Russia herself, to the Russian 
people. See what Russia is doing at this moment with 
the Duma, with the chosen representatives of the Russian 
people, strangling every effort at reform in that country! 

“But the German victories in the Russian provinces, or 
rather the defeat of the Russian system, will open the eyes 
of the Russian people and cause their awakening and per- 
haps also their emancipation. Thus we shall bring liberty 
to Russia even as we liberated France from Bonapartism 
in 1870.” 

“Do you think German militarism will become stronger 
after this war, or will this grave human crisis, with millions 
of human lives lost, tend to check the spirit of militarism?” 
I asked. | 

“German militarism?’ he repeated. ‘Militarism, as 
far as it does exist in Germany, has come to us from Russia, 
and for that matter, militarism has come everywhere from 


HANS DELBRUECK 169 


Russia. Russia’s enormous army has been the cause of 
militarism in Europe. The Russian army was much 
greater than the German, Italian and Austrian armies 
combined. 

“In order to be able to defend ourselves and Europe 
against the tremendous Russian army and the domination 
of the Cossacks, we were compelled to have a great army. 
And since we had a large army, France followed suit, and 
then England wanted to protect France. 

“If Russia is curbed, if Russian greed for territory is 
checked, if Russia is dissolved and the smaller nationalities 
in Russia liberated, then the danger of militarism will have 
been removed. It may be that then it would be possible 
to have armaments reduced in every country. Russia has 
been the real military menace, responsible for the great 
burden of armaments everywhere.” 

I mentioned to Prof. Delbrueck that three years ago 
he practically foretold the present catastrophe in his inter- 
view on Germany’s aims. He said: 

“As I told you then, the natural aims of Germany are to 
have colonial possessions as the other great nations, for in- 
stance, in Central Africa. It is my personal opinion that 
the moment the other powers realize this and are willing 
to make reasonable arrangements with Germany in this di- 
rection the war will end. 

“As I have pointed out, of all the armies in the world, 
the German army is the best trained and most powerful 
instrument of war, and yet, at the same time, the least 
available for mere political ambition and lust for power. 
Our army is strong only in a political defensive movement, 
when the existence and honor of the Empire must be de- 
fended against an enemy’s attacks. 


170 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


‘When they speak abroad so much about the German 
ageressiveness and refer to German military writers, they 
mean aggressiveness in a strategical and tactical sense. 
But for political aggressiveness which would lead to such 
a war as this, for the purpose of attaining world supremacy, 
our people could never be used. And of what avail would 
have been all our technical skill and all the discipline of 
our army without the spirit which must come of the peo- 
ple’s own free will and which cannot be anything but the 
expression of the whole nation? 

“Not more than 15 per cent. of the army in the field now 
had uniforms on the day of mobilization. The other 85 
per cent. are peasants and workmen and scholars, for the 
most part heads of families. Would such people be pre- 
pared to be led to death for the sake of mere plans of 
political ambition? 

“The charge of ‘militarism’ applies least of all to Ger- 
many, unless you refer to the fact that every German sub- 
ject is a born defender of his Fatherland. It was this 
spirit that made it possible for Prussia to guard Europe 
against the universal supremacy of Napoleon and then 
against the domination of the Czar. 

“When we take into consideration the fact that during 
the past 100 years Germany (Prussia) has had an army 
constituting only one per cent. of the population, the charge 
of the growth of militarism in Germany can hardly be 
substantiated. 

“In order that Germany should not be excluded from 
international affairs, in order that Germany should not 
have to remain a mere onlooker while the other great powers 
are dividing Africa and Asia among themselves, and in or- 
der to protect our growing oversea commerce, Germany 


HANS DELBRUECK 171 


commenced to build her navy in 1888 and thereby aroused 
England’s jealousy in the highest degree. 

“During the last 150 years the English people have lived 
in constant dread of an invasion. At one time it was the 
Spaniards, then the French, then the Russians, and now it 
is the Germans who have disturbed the peaceful slumbers 
of the British. They could not understand why Germany 
was building a large navy, unless she had intentions of at- 
tacking England. In their opinion the German navy would 
have been merely a luxury if Germany had no intentions 
of such an attack on England. 

“There may have been dreamers in Germany who 
dreamed of an immediate landing in England, but in re- 
sponsible quarters Germans have thought much more so- 
berly. It is true, we wanted more than merely to defend 
our own coasts with our large fleet, but there was never any 
intention on our part to attack England. What we wanted 
to impress upon England, as well as upon the other powers, 
was that Germany must have her proper place among the 
great nations, in accordance with her greatness and power. 

“New colonial possessions have been acquired in Africa 
and in Asia by the English and the French, the Russians, 
the Americans and the Japanese. Germany did not want 
to be excluded from this division of the world forever. If 
Germany had built no navy she could not have prevented 
the division of Turkey.” 

“T understand that you were one of the signers of the 
petition to the Imperial Chancellor recently, in which the 
idea of the annexation of Belgium by Germany was op- 
posed. May I know what the attitude of the German peo- 
ple toward this question is at the present time?’ I asked. 

“The men who signed that petition belonged to the 


172 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


minority,” said Dr. Delbrueck. ‘“The majority of the Ger- 
man people desire the annexation of Belgium by Germany. 
At all events the war must go on till Poland and the Baltic 
provinces are liberated and the freedom of the sea is secured. 

“Then the cause of militarism will have been removed, 
and armaments could be reduced everywhere at the close 
of this war. It is quite possible that peace could be se- 
cured by ceding to Germany such colonies as Uganda and 
Nigeria by England and the French and Belgian Congoes, 
as a ransom for the evacuation by Germany of northern 
France and Belgium. 

“Then there would probably have to be an indemnity 
to Germany, and J think England ought to pay it, for the 
cost of another year of war would be far greater than the 
price of peace to-day.” 

“You speak of the liberation of Poland. May I know 
what, in your opinion, the German Government intends to 
do with the newly acquired Polish provinces?” J asked. 

“So far as Poland is concerned,” replied Professor Del- 
brueck, ‘“‘you may be quite sure that these provinces will 
never belong to Russia again. They have been liberated. 
It is, of course, one of the most difficult tasks to handle the 
new Polish problem adequately. Poland either will be 
autonomous, or, which is more probable, it will be an in- 
dependent State, under the sovereignty of Austria. I 
hardly believe that Germany will want to take up this new 
problem herself. Personally, I should not like to see Ger- 
many take upon herself this burden. 

“Of course, the Baltic provinces where the population is 
to a great extent German will remain in the hands of Ger- 
many. They will not be dominated by Russia any more. 


HANS DELBRUECK 173 


As I have stated before, Germany is going to liberate the 
smaller nationalities in this war. 

“The Jews will, of course, see their condition greatly im- 
proved after this war in the Polish provinces. Their posi- 
tion in Russia was intolerable. The horrors perpetrated 
upon them were inhuman. I do not say that all anti- 
Semitism will be eradicated in Germany after the war, but 
I can state definitely that it is diminishing now, and that 
it will continue to diminish in the German Empire.” 

“What do you think of the likelihood of a separate 
peace with Russia? Do you believe that now that the 
Grand Duke has been eliminated from the Russian sphere 
of influence, the Czar, who has been inclined from the start 
in favor of a separate peace with Germany, may commence 
negotiations for peace with Germany?” I asked. 

‘““A separate peace with Russia would mean the end of 
the war. England would be forced, and so would France 
be forced, to conclude peace within four weeks after a 
separate peace with Russia.” 

“What is your view with regard to the German-American 
misunderstandings?” I asked. 3 

“TI am glad to see that these misunderstandings are being 
cleared up and that the irritation on either side is subsid- 
ing. J must say that there has been a strong anti-American 
feeling in a certain class of this country on account of the 
question of ammunition. I belong to that class myself,” 
replied Professor Delbrueck with a smile. 

I remarked that the feeling of President Wilson is, in 
all likelihood, that since the Germans believe the American 
government to be pro-Allies, and the Allies believe America 
to be pro-German, he is pursuing the right course. 


174 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“T know that America is acting in accord with interna- 
tional law in this matter,” said Professor Delbrueck. “TI 
know that legally the United States is in the right. But 
I cannot understand how the sale of ammunition, even 
though legally sanctioned, could be reconciled with the 
lofty ideals embodied in the American notes, in which the 
American government speaks of humanity, Christianity, of 
moral rights and the glory of peace. 

“Tf international law permits the sale of ammunition— 
and this is the only thing that prolongs the war—then 
America should simply stand upon her legal rights, but 
should not preach idealism and lofty sentiments. If, how- 
ever, President Wilson is really in favor of an interna- 
tional policy of idealism—and I have no doubt that he is 
sincere—he surely must have the right to substitute Amer- 
ican law for international law.” 

“But this would be interpreted as a violation of neu- 
trality, if changed during the war,” I said. ; 

“Legally, America is in the right,” he repeated. “My 
complaint is only upon moral grounds.” 

“How soon do you think peace negotiations will begin?” 
I asked. 

“I believe that peace could be had within a very short 
time, peace under reasonable terms. In fact, the German 
Chancellor declared recently that Germany is ready at any 
time for peace upon reasonable terms. I believe that 
President Wilson and the Pope could be the peace medi- 
ators and practically bring about a speedy peace.” 


ISVOLSKY 


Paris, 19175. 
THERE is a man in Paris who may justly say to himself: 
“This war is mine!” 

In the stillness of the night, in the great city that a little 
more than a year ago harbored within itself so much care- 
free gayety, frivolity, playfulness and brilliancy, now 
wrapped in mourning, a veritable graveyard, that man may 
be rejoicing over the “‘victory” he has achieved by the 
realization of his dream and ambition, and if his nerves 
have not been shattered by the phantoms of the millions 
of men, dead or crippled, of millions of bereaved and heart- 
broken mothers and wives and children, he may be repeat- 
ing to himself, with a diabolical smile: 

“It is my war!” 

For years he has planned it. For years he has craved it. 
For years he has schemed to provoke it. Spiderlike he kept 
weaving incessantly his network of intrigues, the moving 
spirit of the machinations and schemes and cunning devices 
contrived to make this war. 

And now he can say to himself: “I have made this war. 
It is my war.” 

Perhaps it has turned out not as he conceived it. He had 
hoped for victories, but has found defeats, reverses, humili- 
ations instead—an almost complete collapse of his plans, 
but nevertheless he may boast in his own heart: 


499 


“Tt is my war: 


175 


176 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


He is not a great statesman, nor is he a great warrior. 
He is not a Napoleon in any sense. This is the age of 
mediocrities and of machines. 

A small man, the son of a priest, moved by selfish am- 
bitions, persevering, unscrupulous and unhesitating in his 
methods—he has succeeded, strangely enough, in drawing 
the great powers into the network of his “diplomatic” in- 
trigues, and now there is flowing upon the fields of battle 
the blood of millions of human beings, representative of 
the most civilized nations. 

Humanity is destroying itself, devastating all it has been 
creating—cities, towns, and villages, fields and shops and 
factories, commerce and industry—spreading hatred and 
bitterness and cruelty, killing the human in man. And be- 
hind the scenes of this awful calamity there is one man, a 
so-called diplomat, who can laugh at the whole world and 
say: 

“Yes, itismy war! JI have called it into being!”’ 

That man’s name 1s Alexander Isvolsky. He is the Rus- 
sian Ambassador to France. 

When I arrived in Dieppe from London I stood in line 
at the railroad station for some time before I reached the 
officers examining the passports. Around a long table sat 
six men, three in French uniforms. But the Englishmen, in 
plain clothes, seemed to be in authority. They cross- 
examined the passengers. ‘Their manner was rude, insult- 
ing and their questions were often silly. 

When they looked at my passport the officers passed it on 
to a red-headed Englishman, who made a significant grim- 
ace, scrutinized me and demanded to know the purpose of 
my trip to Europe, especially to France. I told him the 
purpose of my journey to Europe, named the newspaper I 


ISVOLSKY 197 


represented and added that I was particularly interested 
in ascertaining the facts concerning the condition of the 
Jews in the various countries at war. 

He looked at me askance, stood up officiously and led me 
by the arm to a small back room in the railway station. 
He locked the door and whispered something in the ear of 
the French officer, who sat there at a small desk. 

Then he commenced to ask a number of questions, and 
from time to time again whispered something in the offi- 
cer’s ear. 

Several times the door was opened and a soldier was ad- 
mitted, bringing reports. As the door opened I saw several 
soldiers stationed outside. 

The mysterious air and the rude manner in which they 
conducted their cross-examination were, to say the least, 
quite embarrassing. They disregarded the letters of intro- 
duction I carried, declaring sneeringly they knew how much 
it was necessary to pay for letters of introduction in 
America. 

Though I had, in addition to the American passport, the 
special French passport issued to me by the French Consul 
General in London, after a most minute examination of 
my papers, J was kept for an hour in suspense, locked in a 
little room, guarded by French soldiers, 

_ Finally the Englishman asked me brusquely: 

“Where do you intend to stop in Paris?’ 

“In the Grand Hotel,” I replied. 

“See that you stop there,” he threatened. “If you don’t 
report to the police to-morrow, or if you don’t stop at the 
Grand Hotel, you will be taken back to-morrow on this 
same boat.” 


Then the French officer added: 


178 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“You must not go near any of the places of military 
operations under any circumstances.” 

The British officer opened the door and said: 

“You may go now, but remember what I’ve told you.” 

In the train waiting at the station for more than two 
hours I met several Americans who had come from London 
on the same boat. There was an American newspaper man, 
with his family, and three apparently wealthy American 
women, who were going to France as volunteer Red Cross 
nurses. They asked me about my experience, for they had 
seen the officer leading me away. ‘They told me they also 
had been treated rudely. ) 

I was wondering at the threshold of the great French 
Republic whether I was in France or in Russia. 

After a brief stay in Paris J knew what influences were 
dominating the Republic of France, and I was no longer 
surprised at the rudeness and stupidity of the officers ex- 
amining the passports in Dieppe. It was uncharacteristic 
of the French. 

During my stay in France I met a prominent French dip- 
lomatist with whom I discussed the war. He spoke of 
France with deep emotion, with tears in his voice, for he 
loved his fatherland passionately. 

In a quivering voice he said: 

“My unfortunate country is almost prostrate. Hun- 
dreds of thousands of our best people, of our youngest and 
strongest men have already laid down their lives, have be- 
come disfigured, crippled, maimed; have shed their own 
blood and that of the enemy, all on account of an intrigue.” 

“An intrigue?” I asked. 

“Yes, a Russian intrigue,” he answered. He paused a 
while, and then added: 


ISVOLSKY 179 


“France is not free now; it is dominated by Russia—the 
press, the Government and all.” 

“Do you really mean to say that a Russian intrigue has 
led to this universal slaughter, to this most terrible 
tragedy?” I asked. 

The Frenchman answered: 

“It may seem strange and incredible, but it is true. It 
is so simple that people would hardly believe it possible, 
but it is a fact, nevertheless.” 

He paused again, as though hesitating to speak frankly 
on a subject that was painful to him. Then he went on: 

“Tf it is possible to fix the responsibility for so horrible 
a catastrophe upon one man, that man ts Isvolsky. He is 
now the Tsar’s Ambassador to France. But the idea of 
this war was born in his mind when he was Russia’s Min- 
ister of Foreign Affairs. He commenced to plan this war 
on the day Bosnia and Herzegovina were annexed by 
Austria. He then made up his mind to avenge himself on 
Austria. Not that he was so sorry for the smaller States, 
or that the Russian government felt sorry for them, but 
he saw his opportunity of furthering his pet Pan-Slavist 
movement. 

“The first part of his plot was to become the Russian 
Ambassador to France, so that his activities might generate 
from that country. As soon as he became Ambassador to 
Paris he started to organize the French press for Russia’s 
purposes. Within a very short time he succeeded in muz- 
zling it, in making it servile to Russian interests. He had 
large sums of money for this purpose at his command. 

“To further his ambition of vengeance against Austria, 
Isvolsky formed a secret alliance with Titoni, the Italian 
Ambassador to France, who was always known as distinctly 


180 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


anti-Austrian. The plan of these two diplomats was to 
provoke a war of Italy and Russia against Austria without 
drawing France or Germany into it. This turned out to 
be a vain hope and a dream. They failed in the very first 
stages of their conspiracy. 

“Then the two diplomats changed their plans. ‘Titoni 
suggested the Tripoli operations, with Isvolsky’s sanction, 
in order to involve Austria, through the Balkan States and 
Turkey. Italy was eager to occupy Albania, but England 
and France blocked the scheme and prevented it. 

“The war between Italy and Turkey was limited to 
Tripoli, and thus the two accomplices were defeated in 
their machinations once more. 

“Then came the Agadir affair, the blow of Germany 
against France in Morocco. Isvolsky sought to influence 
the French Premier to go ahead and declare war, but Eng- 
land urged that the affair be settled peacefully. This was 
done, and Isvolsky’s plot was upset again. 

“In the beginning of 1912 Poincaré became Premier. 
He had already been interested in Isvolsky’s pet schemes 
and was now ready to assist him. 

“In August, 1912, Poincaré went to St. Petersburg and 
met the Tsar. When the Tsar asked him whether he 
would lend his aid to Russia in her efforts to secure control 
of Constantinople, Premier Poincaré replied: 

““T am only the French Premier. You know that a 
Premier, who is only the temporary head of the Cabinet, 
cannot give you a definite answer to this question. Only 
the President of France could give you a definite and per- 
haps also a satisfactory answer.’ 

“Isvolsky and the Tsar understood the meaning of Poin- 
caré’s words. 


ISVOLSKY 181 


“Soon large sums of Russian money made themselves 
felt in France. Isvolsky handed enormous sums to the 
French newspapers, and with the aid of about six million 
francs, Poincaré was elected President of the French Re- 
public in 1913. 

“Isvolsky, encouraged by Poincaré, influenced Russia to 
allow Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece to declare war on Tur- 
key, in October, 1912. Poincaré sent to Austria the note 
in which he practically demanded that Austria remain 
neutral and keep out of the conflict. That note was quite 
offensive to Austria. | 

“Then Isvolsky, by his methods of provocation for the 
purpose of involving Austria in the war, expressed his opin- 
ion that Austria should intervene, but England succeeded 
in influencing the great powers to act calmly and wisely, 
and the intervention of Austria was prevented. 

“Thus Isvolsky and Titoni lost their game once more. 

“But if Austria acted wisely and kept out of the conflict, 
it was due not only to the pressure brought to bear upon 
her by the other great Powers who counselled peace, but 
also to the influence of the heir to the throne, the Archduke 
Ferdinand, who was a resolute and firm adherent of peace. 

“TIsvolsky knew this and commenced a new campaign. 
Before long the Pan-Slavists, led by Isvolsky, resolved to 
remove the Archduke who stood in the way of their plans 
and ambitions. This was accomplished. It is now an es- 
tablished fact that the leader of the plot against the arch- 
duke was the Russian Minister to Serbia, who died three 
days after the assassination of the Archduke. That man 
was Isvolsky’s agent in Serbia. 

“Then came the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia. 

“On the day of the ultimatum Poincaré was in St. Peters- 


182 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


burg. When the Tsar asked him this time about Con- 
stantinople, whether France would help him to secure it, 
Poincaré answered: 

““ “Now that I am the President of France I can promise 
to help Russia to secure Constantinople.’ ” 

“Tt was then that Russia, under the pretext of protecting 
little Serbia, commenced to mobilize upon a large scale, 
thus practically starting the war. 

“Isvolsky accomplished what he wanted. And now 
Titoni also realized his hope—a war with Austria. But 
they had miscalculated. They had not counted on Ger- 
many coming to Austria’s rescue. 

“Tsvolsky, the son of a Russian priest, had long been a 
fanatical adherent of the Pan-Slavic movement and has 
dreamed of a Europe dominated by the Slavs. 

“The French Republic, through the President and cer- 
tain members of the Cabinet, has become a pawn in the 
hands of this Russian intriguer. 

“Under these conditions you will not be surprised that 
the French press has not published anything about the Jew- 
ish atrocities committed by the Russian government dur- 
ing the war. 

“Of course, the people of France are beginning to real- 
ize the blunders that have been made. But it is too late. 
Russia’s defeats, and the causes of these defeats, have 
opened the eyes of the French people, and there are many 
now who are quietly expressing their indignation. But the 
mass of the people do not know of the intrigues that led 
to this most dreadful of all wars.” 

Thus ended the French diplomatist’s account of Isvol- 
sky’s part in the world catastrophe. 

The military parties in all the countries now at war sud- 


ISVOLSKY 183 


denly came into their own element. Some were prepared. 
Others only boasted of their preparedness. Some kept pre- 
paring quietly and efficiently. Others threatened, prepar- 
ing in a haphazard manner. 

About a month before the outbreak of the war certain 
newspapers in Russia boasted of the preparations Russia 
was making, of the reforms she introduced in her army, 
and of her readiness to measure her strength with Ger- 
many’s in—1916. 

The powder was dry. The air was electrified. The mil- 
itary parties everywhere commenced to assert themselves. 
And when the Russian intriguer, spurred on by the dream of 
Pan-Slavic domination and Russia’s greed for Constanti- 
nople, dropped the match all of Europe was set aflame. 

The dogs of war were suddenly unchained. Passions 
broke loose. The efforts of the statesmen to save the situ- 
ation proved futile. It was too late to check the enormous 
wave of war-madness that had come upon Europe. 

There was a man in France who worked for peace and 
for reason till his last breath. 

On the eve of the war he addressed 100,000 persons in 
the city of Brussels. He spoke of peace—he brought them 
a ray of hope that there may be no war. On the following 
afternoon came the news that Germany was determined to 
enter the war. He rushed back to Paris—to the Foreign 
Office—where he was received by Under Secretary of State 
Abel Ferry. He said to the representative of the Minister 
of Foreign Affairs: 

“The stronger you are bound by your treaties, the firmer 
must be your will to do everything possible to spare us this 
war. I fear you have not told our ally, Russia, that in 
the event she does not accept England’s proposal for medi- 


184. THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ation she must not count on our aid against Austria. We 
make this demand loudly in the hour of the gravest danger. 
We will do it even if we are threatened to be shot down. 
For in this way we clear Socialism of the responsibility 
and at the same time point out the only way in which peace 
may be saved.” 

The Foreign Office answered: 

“We assure you that we have never stopped bringing 
pressure upon Russia in the manner you have indicated.” 

But another man, M. Ferry, of the Foreign Office, re- 
marked a little later: 

“Tt cannot be stopped!” 

On July 31, 1914, the man who labored so passionately 
to save the peace of Europe declared that the Russian Am- 
bassador, Isvolsky, was the chief instigator of the war. 

On the same day he declared to the Under Secretary of 
State, M. Ferry, that he was determined to resume an ener- 
getic campaign against France entering the war. He was 
warned against this in the following phrase: 

“You may be shot down in the street.” 

On that same day the man who sought to save his coun- 
try from war madness planned to commence his campaign 
by a powerful appeal in the form of “J’accuse!”” This be- 
came known in the reactionary spheres in the afternoon, 
and in the evening of July 31, 1914, this hero of peace, 
M. Jaurés, was murdered in a restaurant in Paris—shot 
through a window. 

The famous and courageous champion of justice in the 
Dreyfus affair now paid with his life for his courageous 
fight to save the peace of Europe. This time Isvolsky, 
Poincaré and Delcasse won. 

Before I left France a witty Frenchman said to me: 


ISVOLSKY 185 


“We have three invasions in France. First, the Ger- 
man invasion, then the Belgian invasion caused by the 
tragedy of Belgium and, last but not least, the British in- 
vasion. ‘The British seem to be trying to run France, as 
if they were the masters here.” 

“But you have forgotten to mention another invasion,” 
I remarked, “the Russian invasion of France. And this 
invasion was probably responsible for the other invasions.” 


ALEXANDER KERENSKY 


Petrograd, 1917. 

Tue man of the hour was Alexander F. Kerensky. Simple 
and dominating, he was idolized everywhere. His sin- 
cerity and fiery eloquence won for him universal confidence 
among soldiers and civilians. The most picturesque popu- 
lar figure brought out by the great revolution, he was hailed 
as the “sweetheart” and the “hope” of the new Russia. 
He was its composite hypnotic force, concentrated in one 
soul. 

Kerensky really participated in the preparatory work 
for the revolution, then rose to the very top of the revolu- 
tionary wave, above other Russian leaders, and became the 
inspiration of liberty-loving Russia. 

A member of the socialist revolutionary party, he had 
grown more or less conservative under the burden of the 
great responsibility he had assumed. Because of this he 
incurred the animosity of certain members of his own 
party. The extremists despised him even as the counter- 
revolutionists among the reactionaries feared him more 
than any other Russian leader. 

The German government, realizing Kerensky’s tremen- 
dous influence and power, used every means of discrediting 
him. Vile stories were spread about him, accusing him of 
having accepted bribes of British and French gold, of hav- 
ing sold out to the bourgeoisie. For months the press of 


the world was fed on stories of Kerensky’s critical physical 
186 


ALEXANDER KERENSKY 187 


condition. Vivid descriptions of his illness and his suffer- 
ings were published. As a final attempt, it was even sought 
to discredit his influence by circulating a story that he was 
a Jew, in order to arouse the reactionary elements against 
him. 

Kerensky paid little attention to the gossip and wild 
rumors circulated about him. He went on with his work, 
strenuously trying to consolidate Russia, to reorganize the 
army in order to continue the war efficiently, to guide the 
ship of state safely to the Constituent Assembly. 

His popularity meanwhile assumed legendary propor- 
tions. 

Then came the July riots. Nicholas Lenine and Leo 
Trotzky challenged his strength in the first, futile attack 
on the Provisional Government. 

July 13, 14 and 15 were days of horror in Petrograd. 
The bolsheviki organized riots, in which hundreds of men, 
women and children were killed or wounded in the streets 
of the Russian capital. Petrograd was in the grip of the 
bolsheviki for three days and all Russia felt the shock. 

With cinematographic picturesqueness and rapidity Rus- 
sia’s political situation was changing. Sensation followed 
sensation, so that thousands stood in line, buying the eve- 
ning newspapers. Long lines were fashionable then. 
There was a bread line, a shoe line and a tobacco line. 
Hundreds of thousands were waiting, waiting, waiting. 

Only heroic men and measures could save Russia and her 
liberty. Mr. Kerensky, who rose on the top of the revo- 
lutionary wave, still remained on top. He was still the 
nation’s idol, full of revolutionary fervor and courage. 
All looked to the special defense committee, composed of 
Kerensky, Savinkov and Nekrasov, co-operating with Gen- 


188 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


eral Korniloff, to act energetically in reorganizing the army 
for a continuation of the war. 

When the Premier was still in control of the situation, 
with the cabinet reorganized and the leaders of the Work- 
men’s and Soldier’s Council, as well as the constitutional 
democrats, supporting him and the new government, I 
sought his views. He received me on August 13, in the 
library of the former Tsar Nicholas, at the Winter Palace. 

“The main problem before us now,” he said, “‘is the na- 
tional revolutionary defense of our country. Whenever 
those who fall into despair here or abroad think Russia 
has collapsed and is falling apart, I would remind them of 
the French Revolution, pointing to documents of history 
and comparing them with the present picture. 

“In the army thus far we have no Lafayette or other 
generals who remained loyal to the fallen monarchy. Our 
officers and army are worthy of the highest praise. De- 
spite misfortune, at the front, and disorders, they have 
shown great heroism. 

“Our offensive attack opened a great wound, which is 
discharging the decay. The Russian organism is now un- 
dergoing a painful operation. We are applying energetic 
radical remedies to heal and strengthen it. 

“Such is the inevitable course of revolution. All that 
was secretly falling apart under the old régime is now il- 
lumined under the bright but burning rays of truth and 
liberty. 

“T am convinced that we shall have enough strength and 
power to come out of these extraordinary trials with 
honor. The birth of a free nation is always very painful. 

“T value particularly American aid and support. Amer- 
ica is thus far the best organized democracy. It is free 


ALEXANDER KERENSKY 189 


from European prejudices, and we ourselves are inclined 
to become a nation without historical prejudices. 

“I wish the great democracy would, especially at this 
moment, come to our assistance energetically; for only in 
the hour of need can we best test our friends. A deep, 
strong source of moral power is insufficient just now. It 
is necessary to add material support. If the old Russian 
régime was unable to crush the spirit and the soul of the 
Russian people, it did succeed in demoralizing the body 
and robbing the wealth of Russia. 

“Among all modern statesmen I consider President Wil- 
son the most worthy of emulation, deserving the world’s 
attention and praise.”’ 


London, April, rgr9. 

In an exclusive interview with me to-day Mr. Alexander 
F’. Kerensky made his frankest statement since he escaped 
from Russia. He had just returned from seclusion in the 
country, having reached London yesterday. 

“How easily the people of the Entente countries have 
forgotten Russia’s sacrifices and contribution in the war for 
the Allied cause,” Mr. Kerensky lamented. “To-day Rus- 
sia is considered a conquered country, like Germany.”’ 

“If the people do not know, surely the Allied statesmen 
must know what the Russian armies did until after the 
1917 offensive, which upset Ludendorff’s plans to strike 
with his full force against the western front,” he continued. 

“The Russian revolution of March, 1917, was an attempt 
to save Russia from a separate peace with Germany. In 
January, 1917, there were 1,800,000 deserters from the 
Russian army. Demoralization continued, enabling Ger- 
many to continually withdraw her armies from the eastern 


190 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


front. Within two months after the revolution the Rus- 
sian army was almost regenerated. By the middle of 
May Germany stopped withdrawing her troops from our 
front. By June the normal condition of the Russian army 
was restored, and when I began the offensive against Ger- 
many her forces opposing us were larger by ten divisions 
than they had been ever before. 

“The German General Staff had planned to attack the 
western front before the Americans could come in, but 
Russia blocked Ludendorff’s designs. 

“Allied statesmen know revolutionary Russia could have 
made an advantageous separate peace, but we knew no 
Russian front. To us it was the Allied front. We fought 
not only for Russia, but for the Allies. We made supreme 
sacrifices but we held the front for some time. 

“Allied statesmen knew that Russia was more isolated 
than Germany was. They could not help us effectively. 
We were absolutely blocked during the first two years of 
the war. Indeed, French and Russian troops practically 
bore the burden of the war on land during this time. Of 
course, the British fleet did wonderful work on the seas, 
but the British army was adequately organized only after 
Russia had carried even a greater burden than Germany did. 

“Many Russians now blame me because I would not 
make a separate peace with the Central Powers. Do you 
realize what a separate peace concluded by Russia with Ger- 
many at that time would have meant to France? 

“Now all this is forgotten. Russia is ignored and treated 
as if she were non-existent.” 

Mr. Kerensky declared that no nation can forgive when 
its sacrifices are ignored and the blood of its sons betrayed. 

“Statesmen at the peace conference are busy creating 


ALEXANDER KERENSKY 191 


barriers,” he continued. “They are giving Roumania ter- 
ritory almost down to Odessa and giving to Poland almost 
up to Moscow. They are dividing Russia into little states. 
They are doing that which Napoleon tried to do more than 
a century ago. 

“They should understand that a combination of the 
Powers with Poland against Russia means a combination 
of Russia and Germany against France. Then neither 
America nor England could save the situation. 

‘“Russia’s catastrophe and chaos usually are attributed to 
barbarism and the tinge of Asiatic blood, but almost the 
same has happened in Germany. When the limit of a 
nation’s exhaustion and destruction is reached state organ- 
ism collapses. 

“Compare what America contributed to France and what 
was contributed to Russia. You will then realize under 
what hardships we fought and lost more men than any 
other one of the belligerents. 

‘“‘Now small states are created around Russia, artificially, 
but there is nothing terrible in that. Russia is experiencing 
her gravest crisis now, but the Russian people, whose con- 
tribution to the world’s literature and art and science is 
considerable, will be regenerated. 

“That which is taken from Russia now will come back. 
The history of the beginning of the nineteenth century 
will repeat itself.” 


Paris, May 1, 1920. 
Paris is now the center of Russian leaders and “saviors.” 
Each of them has a remedy of his own, and each of them 
considers his remedy as the only one that can save Russia. 
There are Russian leaders here of every shade and color, 


192 ‘THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


from radicalism to ultra-reaction and monarchism—beaten 
generals of the Tsarist régime, statesmen trained in the 
ways and intrigues of the autocracy, ambassadors ‘“‘repre- 
senting” non-existent governments, politicians and officers 
praying and working for a new Tsar, and Russian demo- 
crats who believe that only a constituent assembly could 
reconstruct Russia upon a democratic basis. 

There are Russian nobles here who live on their pearls— 
a pearl a week—and they are rapidly coming to the end of 
their strings. 

All these Russians are divided on almost every question 
affecting Russia, for each of them wants a different Russia 
—but on one point they are all united. They all believe 
that the Allies, instead of helping, have injured Russia. 

Among all the Russian leaders here Alexander Kerensky 
is beyond doubt the most picturesque and dramatic figure. 
On the crest of the wave of the Russian revolution he rose 
to dizzy heights and became the favorite of the Russian 
people immediately after the collapse of the Romanoff 
dynasty. 

I met him as Premier, when he was in his glory; I met 
him several times since then, and now I find him in his 
modest little room in Paris, where he lives in seclusion. 

I asked him about Russia, about the Allied policy toward 
Russia, about the recognition of the Soviet Government. 

There was a tinge of bitterness and a certain degree of 
cynicism in his comments on the Allied attitude, but it was 
clear that his love for Russia was as profound as his con- 
fidence in the eventual readjustment of Russia as a great 
and powerful country. 

“‘America,” he said, “had the greatest opportunity to save 
Russia, but she lost it. Immediately after the overthrow 


ALEXANDER KERENSKY 193 


of the Romanoff dynasty Germany supported the Bol- 
sheviki, while England and France supported the monarch- 
ists and reactionaries in Russia. Then America had the 
greatest opportunity, and we Russians hoped that she would 
help the democratic elements that sought to rebuild Russia. 

“The Wilsonian peace policy was patterned after the 
policy of the Provisional Government of which I was the 
head. We outlined it first immediately after the revolu- 
tion, but it was a policy distasteful to England and France. 
So they did everything they could to undermine us. They 
did not want us to participate in the liquidation of the war 
along the lines of our peace program. And we would 
not have been puppets at the Peace Conference. 

“When President Wilson proclaimed his fourteen points 
the Allies maintained silence. They were glad that Presi- 
dent Wilson created such sentiments. They knew what 
effect his speeches must have on the morale of the German 
people, and upon certain elements of the people in the 
Allied countries. But the Allied statesmen themselves did 
not regard President Wilson’s statements seriously. ‘They 
plotted to carry out their own program. 

“Before President Wilson arrived in Europe the first 
time, a prominent British official said tome: ‘We are not 
afraid of Wilson. He is not sufficiently familiar with 
European affairs. Lloyd George will be able to accomplish 
whatever he pleases... And so it actually happened. 
Lloyd George has done whatever he pleased. 

“England is now pursuing with regard to Russia the 
same policy that Germany pursued. England is now eager 
to dismember Russia, almost along the lines of the Brest- 
Litovsk treaty, and England will soon recognize and help 
the Bolshevist government, as the Germans did in 1918. 


194 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“T am asked by Allied statesmen whether it would be 
wise to recognize the Bolsheviki and whether such a move 
would not lead to the spread of Bolshevism to other coun- 
tries. 

“My answer to them is this: ‘Why did you not ask these 
questions two years ago, and why did you not take the ad- 
vice given to you at that time? 

“ “You have done nothing for Russia. On the contrary, 
you have caused us grave injuries. What difference does 
it make to us whether you recognize the Bolsheviki or not, 
whether Bolshevism will spread to France and England 
and Italy? 

“ “Russia has had her Bolshevism, has suffered from it, 
has passed its worst stages; the terror is already a matter 
of the past—our concern is for Russia, not for other coun- 
tries which have not only failed to help us, but have actu- 
ally harmed us.’ 

“Russia needs locomotives, clothing and boots, and if she 
gets these things, so much the better for Russia. If gov- 
ernments based upon the system of private property dis- 
credit themselves through such deals, it is now of little con- 
cern to Russia. 

“Either Russia is dead or she will come back stronger 
than ever. Among the Allies there are many who think 
that Russia is already dead, and they trample upon her 
grave. But we Russians believe that Russia is recovering. 
She is experiencing the pains of growth. 

“And there is no nation that can help Russia except the 
Russian people themselves. The Allies have pursued only 
selfish interests in Russia, and have thus contributed to her 
ruin. Now the Russian people themselves must work out 
their salvation. 


ALEXANDER KERENSKY 195 


“T have long been opposed to military intervention and 
to the blockade. I pointed out long ago that these things, 
and the fronts of the reactionary generals, would galvanize 
the Bolshevist régime and make it stronger. 

“Open Russia to the world, open the frontiers, and the 
world will then discover the myth that is so popular that 
Russia can feed Europe. 

“Europe is demoralized and exhausted. France is quite 
helpless. Italy 1s on the brink of a volcano. England is 
now conducting the same policy that Germany would have 
conducted if she had won the war. 

“England is now the supreme dictator of the world, out- 
side of America. Of course, she does it skillfully and she 
has indeed a democratic system of government, in England. 

“Ttaly needs Russian trade badly, and she is urging the 
recognition of the Soviets, not only to please her own radi- 
cal elements, but also her reactionaries and her financiers. 
Italy has practically recognized Soviet Russia. 

“Japan’s recent occupation of Siberia is a new interna- 
tional outrage, and even America has not done anything to 
curb Japan’s policy of aggression there. 

“In Siberia Japan is fighting not a Bolshevist govern- 
ment, but a democratic representative government of the 
Zemstvos which has been recognized by the Bolsheviki. 
There Japan is crushing Russian democracy. 

“People spoke of the great war as the last war. It was 
only the beginning of a series of wars. Instead of disarma- 
ment the nations will have to build ever more new big 
guns, aeroplanes and dreadnaughts. 

“Russia can be revived only by her own powers, within 
Russia. She cannot be helped to come to herself by any 
other Power or group of Powers. 


196 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME | 


“The establishment of normal relations with Russia must 
lead to the failure of the Communist régime. Either they 
will quit of themselves or they will be overthrown. And 
I am sure that England will help the Communists as Ger- 
many helped them in the beginning.” 


PRINCE PETER KROPOTKIN 


Moscow, rors. 

I rraveLLeD from Petrograd to Moscow to see Peter 
Kropotkin and some of the other great champions of Rus- 
slan emancipation. This journey, under the Bolshevist 
tule, was connected not only with numerous hardships and 
inconveniences, but also with risks and dangers. But if it 
was difficult to reach Moscow from Petrograd it was much 
more difficult to find the address of the famous Russian 
leaders. Most of them were in hiding. No one knew the 
whereabouts of Tchaikovsky, the “father” of the Russian 
revolution, or of Catherine Breshkovsky, the “grandmother’’ 
of the Russian revolution. No one could tell where Milu- 
kov, Boris Savinkov or Kerensky was. 

After the brutal murder of Shingaryev and Kokoshkin, 
two of the noblest liberal leaders, who had devoted all their 
energies to the service of the Russian people, it became un- 
safe for prominent Russian revolutionists to walk in the 
streets or even remain in their homes. 

After considerable difficulty I found Prince Peter 
Kropotkin, the world-renowned scientist and revolutionist, 
the author of ‘“Memoirs of. a Revolutionist.” The genial 
“Grand Old Man,” who was one of the most feared per- 
sonalities during the reigns of Alexander III and Nicholas I 
was now classed among the counter-revolutionists. 

Kropotkin, exiled by the Tsarist government, lived in 


England about forty years. 
197 


198 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


When the revolution broke out last year he returned to 
his native land, where he was received with the greatest 
honors a free nation could bestow upon her favorite sons. 
Now, Prince Kropotkin lives with his wife in two rooms 
and but few intimate friends know their address. Twice — 
the Kropotkin couple were forced from their rooms by the 
Bolsheviki and their little home was searched. 

On my way to Kropotkin I saw the armored trucks 
crowded with Red Guards rushing toward the headquarters 
of the anarchists, who were supposed to have organized an 
uprising against the Soviets. They fired shots at random, 
killing and wounding many innocent people in the neigh- 
boring houses. 

I asked Kropotkin for his views on the conflict between 
the Bolsheviki and the anarchists. He replied: 

“The Bolsheviki are not Socialists, and the Anarchists 
are not Anarchists,—they are expropriators, ordinary crimi- 
nals.” 

When I asked him for a statement on the present condi- 
tion of Russia for publication in America, he said: 

“Much as I should like to give such a statement to you, 
especially for America, I cannot do it now. I make no 
statements now. I deliver no speeches. I give no inter- 
views to anybody. This is not the time for writing or 
speaking.” | 

I told him that if the real leaders of Russia maintain 
silence, when their utterances might help Russia, their state- 
ments later would be of little significance or avail, as Rus- 
sia was rapidly drifting into chaos. He agreed with me 
and said :— 

“T will try to write a few words to-night in the form of 
a message to the American people. Just a few words.” 


PRINCE PETER KROPOTKIN 199 


Discussing the condition of Russia at that moment he said 
that as a result of the Brest-Litovsk treaty an enormous 
feudal capitalistic empire was created in the center of 
Europe, haughty because of its victory, full of hatred for 
its neighbors. 

“We do not know what this empire will be in the near 
future,” he went on, “but until now Germany and Austria, 
together with Russian autocracy, were the main strongholds 
of willful monarchical government in Europe and Asia. 
Their ‘Holy Alliance’ in 1815, and then the ‘Alliance of 
the Three Emperors’ in the sixties of the last century were 
the bitterest enemies not only of a republican but even of a 
constitutional form of government. They worked openly 
and secretly against any manifestation of the spirit of 
equality and freedom in Europe. They opposed in every 
way possible the democratization of any State, and espe- 
cially worked energetically against socialism. And wher- 
ever the socialists in Switzerland, Italy and Spain, or even 
in France, showed an inclination to translate some of their 
ideals into life, the German government demanded. im- 
mediately—and demanded rudely—that the governments 
of these countries make an end to this propaganda of the 
working people. 

“The Russian autocracy naturally considered the Ger- 
man and Austrian emperors its chief supporters and allies, 
and a Russian democratic republic must be considered by 
Germany and Austria as their most dangerous enemy. Be- 
fore the declaration of this war, Wilhelm wrote Nicholas 
that their own safety—and the safety of their thrones—de- 
manded that they unite in an attack upon France and 


England. 


“There is but one thing we can do just now—and this 


200 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


is, while controlling ourselves in pain and agony, we must 
start an uninterrupted, daily, hourly struggle against the 
forces that have led Russia to the present condition of a 
vassal State of German imperialism and German capitalism. 

“But first of all we must not reconcile ourselves to the 
thought of a possible monarchical restoration. Against 
this we must exert all our efforts. We do not want a repe- 
tition of the hangings and shootings by Nicholas and 
Stolypin. 

“But it is still more urgent that we commence a powerful 
fight against all the forces that bring the victory of Germany 
into Russian life. And especially in the villages, through 
the co-operative organizations, the peasants may become the 
strongest fighters against Germany—her spirit, her culture, 
her commercial domination. 

“First of all we must rid ourselves absolutely of our sense 
of worship of Germany in our schools, in our literature, 
in our political life, in the circles of our intellectuals, which 
have developed in Russia since the Napoleonic France was 
defeated by Germany. 

“I know the Tsarist government, with its Ministers of 
Education, encouraged this worship, but we are also to 
blame for it to a great extent. Our intellectuals were 
carried away too much by German kultur and forgot that 
above kultur stands civilization—the striving toward equal- 
ity, toward an ideal. Instead of familiarizing our people 
with the kultur of Germany, we must familiarize them 
with the Western World, its history, its life, its ideals of 
self-government.” 

On the following day Prince Kropotkin said to me:— 

“T want to thank you for having made me work all night. 


PRINCE PETER KROPOTKIN 201 


I have prepared a message to the people of America, which 
I ask you to transmit to them.” 

And he handed me the following message, written in his 
own hand: 

“Russia is now living through one of those great com- 
motions which have taken place in different countries of 
Europe at intervals of from one hundred and thirty to one 
hundred and forty years. After England, which lived it 
through in 1639-1648, and France in 1789-1795, it fell 
now upon Russia to overthrow by means of a revolution 
her antiquated forms of life and to take a new departure in 
all her development. 

“The social reconstruction, which is now to be accom- 
plished in Russia, had been so long postponed and prevented 
by her rulers that it necessarily took on a violent character. 
Some historians have made the remark that once a social 
and political change, which has become necessary, is 
made to assert itself with violence in the streets, the 
change takes the form of a revolution, with all its conse- 
quences. This remark is confirmed now in Russia—unfor- 
tunately under the most disastrous conditions. 

“The Russians have to fight an enemy who was schem- 
ing for forty years the conquest of Russia—military, com- 
mercial and financial. And that conquest was prepared not 
only in Germany herself, not only in her army, her trade, 
her banking system, her science, and soon. It was also pre- 
pared in Russia by the intellectual demoralization of the 
Russian democratic thought. And this was done with the 
aid of the autocratic government of Russia, which not only 
opposed the spreading of general education, but worked 
also to prevent a close intercourse of its subjects with the 


202 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


advanced thought of the Western democracies. What the 
Russians were permitted to learn they learned from Ger- 
many. 

“The results of this double policy are now so awful—and 
I feel them so painfully—that I am quite unable to write 
about them. It is too hard to write about the sufferings of 
a beloved mother. 

“T can say only one thing. After all, Russia wé// recover 
from her terrible illness—in the shape of a federal demo- 
cratic republic, moving toward the higher ideals of equal- 
ity and fraternity. 

“But what is to be done now? What can Russia’s 
friends do for her? In what way can they help her? 
Full of vigor and working capacities, animated with the 
best and friendliest intentions toward the Russian nation 
—as I know it is—what can the American nation do to 
help us? It can do very much, and already it does it in 
France, where every blow that the Allies will strike at the 
German invaders, both on land and on the sea, will help 
Russia and all the Slavonian nations to free themselves 
from the claws of the two imperial birds of prey. 

“As to the help that the nation of the United States can 
give directly to Russia, it 1s immense. 

“The pressing need of the moment is to save Northern 
Russia from imminent starvation. We still receive in 
Moscow our quarter of a pound of bread every day and one 
pound for the factory operatives; but even this insufficient 
allowance is supplied under the greatest difficulties, and in 
the provinces around Moscow whole populations cannot get 
even that regularly. Conditions much worse than these are 
imminent. And, with her population reduced to starva- 
tion, Russia risks to lose even the liberties she has conquered. 


PRINCE PETER KROPOTKIN 203 


“Send us corn. Make it on a large scale. And be sure 
that the mass of the Russian people will fully appreciate 
this manifestation of friendship. Dissipate in this way 
the insinuations of the German agents who fluster in the 
ears of our people that the Allies use Russia as a catspaw 
for their imperialistic aims. 

“Then send us at once as many tractors as you can spare. 
They are badly needed for plowing in the fall—already 
in August. Do it at once—there is no time to lose... . 
You see, I speak to you frankly, openly, as a brother must 
speak to a brother. 

“And with the tractors, if you can spare men (I know 
they are needed there in the west of Europe, where the two 
different civilizations meet now in a mortal fight!)—if 
you can spare men and women, send us small brigades of 
energetic, active people to show our plowmen how the 
work is to be done. Send also seeds—your splendidly or- 
ganized experimental stations know already what sorts of 
seeds are needed for the different regions of Russia. 

‘All over the northern half of Russia the conditions are 
such that the wheat and rye which were left for the spring 
sowing will be eaten during this month and the next, and 
the same is expected to happen by the end of next summer. 

“Finally—and this is as important as the above men- 
tioned, if not more so—help us to bring our dilapidated 
railways and rolling stock into a working order. The help 
_- you gave us by sending railway engines was invaluable. 
What we need now is fully equipped railway brigades of 
trained men for rapidly repairing our railways and engines. 
Of course, there will be grumblers and agents to spread 
and to repeat the German insinuations concerning the 1m- 
perialist schemes of the United States. But, after what 


204 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


has happened in Russia on her western front, such insinua- 
tions will find less echo than they found a year ago. 

‘“‘And then, the disinterestedness of the United States be- 
comes every day more and more evident. And it will be 
still more so if all that you do to help the Russian nation 
takes the character of a popular work, coming from the 
depths of the American nation itself. A direct gift and a 
friendly service from nation to nation. 

“And be sure that such a step—which will be soon fol- 
lowed by other steps of mutual intercourse—will do more 
to put an end to wars than anything else could do. 

“I beg you to transmit my heartiest greetings to the 
American nation and my deep-felt respect for the atti- 
tude it took in the present struggle between two different 
worlds—the democracies of Western Europe and the two 
Central Empires, dominated by the military and financial 
castes of Germany. 

“P. KropotkIn.” 


LEO TROTZKY 


Petrograd, March, roré. 


I went to Russia to see what the Russian people thought of 
Bolshevism. 

I interviewed a large number of representatives of fac- 
tions, groups and parties of every political shade of thought 
in Russia. 

I was particularly eager to meet Leo Trotzky, the clev- 
erest among the Bolshevist leaders. 

I sent a card to him by messenger, stating that I wanted 
to interview him for the American newspaper which I 
represented. The messenger returned to my _ hotel 
saying :— 

“Comrade Trotzky asks you to meet him to-morrow at 
eleven o’clock in the morning at the Smolny Institute.”’ 

Next morning on my way to the Smolny Institute, the 
Headquarters of the Bolsheviki, I read in the newspapers 
a dispatch from Moscow stating that Trotzky had arrived 
in the new capital of the Bolsheviki, together with the other 
Commissaries, to be present at the conference of the Council 
for the ratification of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty. I 
hesitated awhile, then decided to go to Smolny, notwith- 
standing the report that Trotzky had left the city. 

The Smolny Institute, guarded by troops, with machine 
guns in front of the huge buildings, was almost deserted. 
The corridors were dirty. No one seemed to know any- 
thing about the departments that still remained in the 
Smolny. 


205 


206 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Finally I found my way to the rooms occupied by 
Trotzky, who still was Commissary of Foreign Affairs, al- 
though he had resigned several days before. A young Red 
Guard in a fur cap, leaning on his gun, stood at the door 
reading a Russian version of a Conan Doyle detective story. 
I asked him whether Trotzky was in his office. He replied 
he didn’t know. 

“Can you find out whether the Commissary is here?” I 
asked. 

“No,” he said, turning to his novel again. Then I sug- 
gested that he send for Trotzky’s secretary. He answered 
that he could not do that, because the bell was out of or- 
der, and he had no right to leave his post. 

I waited awhile. Finally some one entered and I asked 
him to send out Trotzky’s secretary. Within a few min- 
utes a young woman came out. She had bobbed hair, a 
man’s coat was thrown over her shoulders and she smoked 
a cigarette. 

“Is Commissary Trotzky in?” I asked. 

“Comrade Trotzky is not in,’ she answered, without re- 
moving the cigarette from her mouth. 

“Are you sure he is not in?” I asked. 

“He is not in,” she replied, ready to go back. 

I handed her my card and asked her to give it to Mr. 
Trotzky. Without saying another word she went away. 

About two or three minutes later Leo Trotzky came out. 
He whispered something to the guard and opened the gate. 

He extended his hand and said in English :— 

“Do you speak English?” 

“We may speak Russian if you like,” I answered. Then 
he led me through the spacious bare rooms of the Smolny 
Institute and apologized for the appearance of the rooms. 


LEO TROTZKY 207 


“You know we moved to Moscow and things are in dis- 
order here,” he remarked. 

He took me to his room. There was a bare writing table 
and three chairs. A man was cleaning the large window 
of his room at the time. Several times some one would 
enter without knocking and tell him that he was wanted 
on a very important matter. 

“We want you there for only five minutes,” the man 
persisted. 

“T am busy now,” Trotzky said. 

Trotzky looked pale, exhausted. 

I asked him how he was pleased with the Russian situa- 
tion on the day the Brest-Litovsk peace was being ratified 
in Moscow. He stared at me awhile, then said :— 

“Russia’s position is more affected now by foreign than 
internal affairs. We have been called German agents, as 
you know r, 

“Yes, I know, we published a number of articles dealing 
with this matter.” 

“But,” he interrupted, “the Allied representatives in Rus- 
sia did everything to spoil things for us and for themselves, 
and in that way they helped Germany more than we did.” 

“What are you referring to?” I asked. 

“Certain members of the French and British missions 
blundered by supporting the Polish legions, the Ukranians, 
by stirring up the Roumanian armies against us, but the 
Polish legions, the Ukranians and Roumania all helped 
Germany,” Trotzky answered quickly. 

“The American representative took no initiative in any 
of these matters,’ he went on, “but he permitted foolish 
things to be done. We have been called German agents, 
but I can tell you that Germany has no greater enemy than 


208 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


our party. Nevertheless, the Allies helped General 
Kaledin. Of course, Ambassadors always deny that they 
are interfering with the internal affairs of the country to 
which they are accredited. So they also denied they in- 
terfered with the internal affairs of Russia. The Amer- 
ican Ambassador acted honestly, but he didn’t understand 
the situation in Russia.” 

“According to your opinion, then, the Allies are to blame 
for all the things that are happening in Russia to-day?’ 
I asked. 

“No, the Allies are not altogether to blame for it. There 
have been other mistakes, too. Revolution is necessarily 
accompanied by violence and disorganization, but we have 
creative forces which they overlooked. It was our inten- 
tion to carry the revolution to Germany. The general 
strikes in Berlin and Vienna show that we have already 
accomplished much in that direction. But we lacked power 
of organization and Lenine favored a breathing spell for the 
revolution. So we accepted peace.” 

Trotzky paused awhile, then he added quickly: 

“Now the Allies are preparing to make a new blunder. 
Japan is about to strike at Russia, but this will be a terrible 
blow to the Allies themselves.”’ 

“Just what do you mean?” 

Trotzky looked at me fixedly as he answered :— 

“J have information that Japan has an understanding 
with Germany regarding the division of Russia.” 

‘““When was such an agreement signed?” 

“T don’t know that,” answered Trotzky. 

“Do you know that such an agreement was signed?” J 
asked. 


LEO TROTZKY 209 


“YT don’t know that, either,” he answered. “But I have 
reason to believe that there is an agreement which is based 
upon Germany’s interests in the West and Japan’s interests 
in the East. Germany wants a part of European Russia 
and Japan wants a part of Siberia. The Allies know of 
this understanding between Germany and Japan, but they 
close their eyes to it, fearing lest the secret agreement may 
become an open agreement. Other countries are prompted 
by the motive of crushing the social revolution.” 

Then the Bolshevist leader remarked: 

“T must say that though Germany is employing methods 
of violence she deals after all with the realities of life, and 
that is why Germany is successful. The Allies, on the con- 
trary, deal with appearances, with dreams rather than 
realities. Besides, they are six months too late. Any one 
who tells me that Japan is pursuing unselfish interests in 
Siberia is using a wretched diplomatic phrase. Japan is 
striking at Russia while we are organizing an army to resist 
German domination.”’ : 

I looked at Trotzky in amazement. He was making 
this statement on the day the Bolsheviki were ratifying the 
Brest-Litovsk peace treaty. 

“How long do you think your peace with Germany will 
last?” I asked. 

“We are continuing the war against Germany in the 
Ukraine right now,” answered Trotzky. “Neither we nor 
Germany consider our peace of long duration.” 

“May I know how you expect Bolshevism to work out in 
Russia side by side with German imperialism?” I asked. 

“The Russia of soviets and militaristic Germany are ab- 
solutely incompatible,” replied Trotzky. ‘We are not yet 


210 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


in the position of Persia or Armenia, but Russia is being 
torn to pieces and our party is now working for national 
defense. We will continue the war.” 

“Do you really think that the army you demobilized, 
that the peasants who have been sent to their homes, could 
be induced to fight for Russia again?” I asked. 

Trotzky answered :— 

“We are taking the military experts of the old régime. 
We are not afraid of them. We want their experience, 
their knowledge, but not their politics in the army. We 
will have a much smaller army than before. It will be 
composed of young peasants and workingmen.”’ 

He opened a telegram which lay on his table and said :— 

“T have just received this telegram informing me that I 
was appointed head of the Military Committee. In fact, 
I consider the reorganization of the army so important 
that I resigned my post of Commissary for Foreign Affairs 
in order to take charge of this work.” 

I asked Trotzky what the Bolshevist government was 
planning to do in the near future. 

“We will move from Moscow if necessary. We will 
make the Ural our base if we must. We will fight until 
the social revolution triumphs.”’ 

“How soon do you expect that to happen?” 

“Before the end of the war,” he snapped. 


Several days after this interview I succeeded in securing 
the historic letter which Leo Trotzky sent from Brest- 
Litovsk to Lenine and Stalin, in which he suggested the 
famous formula, ‘““We announce the termination of the war 
and demobilization, without signing any peace,” and in 
which he predicted the revolution in Germany. 


LEO TROTZKY ah by 


The following is a translation of this remarkable 
document : 


“Dear Viladimér Ilyitch: 


“It is impossible to sign their peace. They already 
have agreed with fictitious governments of Poland, Lith- 
uania, Courland and others concerning territorial conces- 
sions and military and customs treaties. In view of ‘self- 
determination’ these provinces, according to German 
interpretation, are now independent States, and as inde- 
pendent States they have already concluded territorial and 
other agreements with Germany and Austria-Hungary. 

“To-day, I put these questions squarely and received a 
reply leaving no room for misunderstandings. Everything 
is stenographed. To-morrow, we shall present the same 
questions in writing. We cannot sign their peace. My 
plan is this :-— 

“We announce the termination of the war and demobili- 
zation without signing any peace. We declare we cannot 
participate in the looting war of the Allies, nor can we 
sign a looting peace. The fate of Poland, Lithuania and 
Courland we place upon the responsibility of the German 
working people. 

“The Germans will be unable to attack us after we de- 
clare the war ended. At any rate, it would be very dif- 
ficult for Germany to attack us, because of her internal con- 
ditions. The Scheidemannists adopted a formal resolu- 
tion to break with the government if it makes annexationist 
demands of the Russian revolution. 

“The Berliner Tageblatt and the Vossiche Zeitung de- 
mand an understanding with Russia by all means. The 
centrists favor an agreement. ‘The internal strife is de- 


212 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


moralizing the government. Bitter controversy is raging 
in the press over the struggle on the western front. 

“We declare we end the war but we do not sign a peace. 
They will be unable to make an offensive against us— 
Vertetdigungskrieg. If they attack us our position will be 
no worse than now, when they have the opportunity to an- 
nounce kuendigung and declare us agents of England and 
Wilson (after his speech) and to commence an attack. 

“We must have your decision. We can still drag on 
negotiations for two, three or four days. Afterward they 
must be broken off. I see no other solution than that pro- 
posed. I clasp your hand. 

“Your Trotzky. 
“Answer by direct wire:—‘I agree to your plan’ or ‘I don’t 


3 33 


agree. 


In Christiania the captain of the vessel on which Leo 
Trotzky left New York last year described to me how he 
was taken off by the British authorities at Halifax, who 
suspected that he was going to Russia to carry on a cam- 
paign for separate peace. ‘Trotzky refused to leave the 
vessel when the officers asked him to follow them ashore. 
He was carried off by several men. 

“Who knows?” said one of the British officers to me at 
Halifax. ‘If we had kept Trotzky here perhaps the war 
would have been over long ago and history might have 
taken a different course. We wanted to hold him, but 
Milukov and Kerensky insisted upon our releasing him.”’ 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF 


Petrograd, rg1é&. 


I met General Sukhomlinoff, former Minister of War, in 
the Prison of the Crosses in April. With him, in the same 
ward, were former Minister of Justice Scheglovitoff and 
former Minister of the Interior Khvostoff. These men 
were characteristic representatives of the autocracy that 
committed suicide. 

General Sukhomlinoff, who was Minister of War for 
eight years under the Tsar, was made the scapegoat for 
the reverses of the Russian forces in 1915 and was thrown 
into prison by the government of the Tsar charged with 
high treason and graft. He was accused of making mis- 
leading statements to the effect that the Russian armies 
had all the necessary munitions at a time when Russian 
troops were forced to fight the Germans and Austrians 
with sticks and stones instead of guns and bayonets. 

General Sukhomlinoff was placed on trial by the provi- 
sional government, headed by Alexander Kerensky, and 
was sentenced to imprisonment for life. Mme. Sukhom- 
linoff, his beautiful young wife, who was kept in solitary 
confinement in the fortress of Peter and Paul for about 
six months, charged with having aided her husband in 
affairs involving graft and treason, was acquitted. 

Recalling the sensational trial and some of Sukhom- 
linoff’s references to the causes of the reverses of the Rus- 


sian armies, I was eager to hear his story and the details 
213 


214 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


concerning the outbreak of the war. But the problem was 
how to enter the Prison of the Crosses. 

I had heard of the terrors that prevailed in the prisons 
under the Bolshevist régime. J had heard how prisoners 
were taken out at night by the guards and shot in the yard 
without any trial or hearing. JI had heard of prisoners 
shot on the way by the soldiers who were to transfer them 
to other prisons or hospitals. And I felt that perhaps be- 
cause of this chaos it might be easier to visit the Prison of 
the Crosses, where members of the Tsar’s régime were kept 
together with the members of the Kerensky government. 

I soon convinced myself that the affair was much simpler 
than J had imagined. I spoke to several friends about my 
desire to interview Sukhomlinoff. One of them told me 
that he knew the commissary of the prison, as he had fre- 
quently visited his friend, who had been imprisoned by the 
Bolsheviki. I asked him to accompany me and introduce 
me to the commissary. 

We came to the Prison of the Crosses in the afternoon. 
A large crowd was waiting outside the iron grating, with 
cards in their hands. It was visiting day and those who 
had permits had to wait for their turn. There were many 
women in mourning, pale-faced and sad-eyed. 

We walked to the head of the line and asked the soldier 
at the gate for the commissary. I mentioned that I rep- 
resented the New York Herald, and he opened the gate. 
My friend led me through the stifling corridors to the office 
of the commissary. The commissary and his asgistant 
were eating at the time. My friend introduced me to the 
commissary and asked whether I could see Sukhomlinoff. 
The commissary exchanged glances with his assistant and 
said :— 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF PRs 


“I don’t think I have the right to permit you to speak 
to him.” 

The assistant added: “No. We can’t let you see 
him.” 

“I just want to see how you keep the symbols of the 
Tsar’s régime in prison,” I said. 

Suddenly the commissary asked :— 

“Didn’t you have an interview with Trotzky?” 

“Wies.”’ 

“What would you talk about with Sukhomlinoff?” 

“T will talk to him only about the past—about the Tsar’s 
régime and the war. Not a word about present 
conditions.” 

He hesitated, then said :— 

“Well, you may go in, but do not discuss with him any- 
thing concerning present conditions.” 

My friend and I went into the ward where the former 
members of the Tsar’s Cabinet were sitting. Sukhomlinoff 
was drinking tea near his cot. A little distance away 
Sheglovitoff and Khvostoff were talking quietly. 

My friend introduced me to all the three. Sukhomlinoff 
invited me to have tea with him and we talked for more 
than two hours. General Sukhomlinoff, who is seventy 
years old, but looks older, commenced by saying :— 

“From a Minister of War I have become a proletariat 
in the real sense of the word. My trial was slow in com- 
ing and the judges were neither just nor merciful.” 

“During your trial you mentioned that the Tsar tele- 
phoned you about a telegram from the Kaiser asking him 
to stop mobilizing the Russian army. Can you give me 
the details of that conversation?” I asked. 

“It was on July 1, past midnight,” replied General 


216 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Sukhomlinoff. “I was called to the telephone to speak 
with the Emperor at Peterhof. The Emperor said to me 
that he had received a telegram from Wilhelm informing 
him that he did not start the mobilization of the German 
army and asked him to stop mobilizing our army. [ re- 
plied that according to the information of our General 
Staff the mobilization of the German army was going on 
in full swing and that it would be impossible to stop our 
mobilization just now, because for technical reasons it 
would delay our mobilization at least two months, and by 
that time the Germans could take Petrograd. 

““Do you think the Kaiser is deceiving me when he 
writes that he has not commenced mobilizing the German 
army?’ asked the Emperor. 

“IT think he is not telling you the truth,’ I answered, 
advising him to communicate with the Chief of the General 
Staff concerning the information in his possession on this 
subject. This ended my conversation with the Emperor 
over the telephone that night. 

“I immediately telephoned to Chief of General Staff 
Yanushkevitch and told him that the Emperor would call 
him on the telephone soon and asked him to give the Em- 
peror all the information in his possession about the course 
of the German mobilization and the danger of stopping our 
mobilization. 

‘About twenty minutes later Yanushkevitch telephoned 
to me, informing me that the Emperor had spoken to him, 
that he told the whole truth to the Emperor, but the Em- 
peror insisted that the mobilization of the Russian army be 
stopped. 

“And I am telling you not to stop the mobilization of 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF B17 


our army!’ I said to Yanushkevitch. Next morning we 
received official information that the mobilization of the 
German army was going on rapidly throughout the coun- 
try. Then the Emperor thanked me for my firmness. It 
was quite clear that the Kaiser tried to deceive the Tsar in 
order to gain time.” 

“T understand that you met the Kaiser several times 
and that you discussed with him the question of the secret 
treaty between Germany and Russia. Is it true?’ I 
asked. 

“T met the Kaiser three times. Twice I met him at 
Russian manceuvres, and the third time I lunched with him 
at Potsdam. We did not discuss the Russo-German treaty. 
The only thing the Kaiser seemed interested in was the 
question of Turkey. After lunch he invited me to his 
study, and taking out a map of Turkey he asked me a num- 
ber of questions regarding that country.” 

I noticed that General Sukhomlinoff did not want to talk 
frankly about his interview with the Kaiser. J turned our 
conversation to his own case. Then he spoke freely. 

“Our reverses in Eastern Prussia were due entirely to 
the blunders made at our headquarters,” said the former 
Minister of War. “They looked around for a scapegoat. 
They wanted to find as big a scapegoat as possible, and 
they selected me, the Minister of War. It was embar- 
rassing to hold the commanders at the front responsible for 
the reverses, because the Commander-in-Chief directed their 
activities and interfered even with their instructions. 
Since affairs took a sad turn at the front they looked around 
for a scapegoat in the rear—and they held me responsible 
for everything. They blamed me for all the reverses, al- 


218 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


though Grand Duke Nicholas never confided any of his 
plans to me, and even arranged matters so that I could not 
be present while he was reporting to the Tsar when he came 
to the headquarters. 

“When people familiar with military affairs were aston- 
ished at the absurd experiments of the Grand Duke which 
resulted in the defeat of our three armies, those responsible 
for the fiasco explained that everything was due to the lack 
of munitions and provisions in our armies. They con- 
trived this intrigue and insisted upon my removal. But 
it was necessary for them to prove that I had neglected my 
duties. They appointed in my place an enemy of mine 
and organized a commission under the chairmanship of the 
senile General Petrov for the purpose of investigating the 
causes of the lack of munitions. 

“General Polivanoff, with the aid of A. Gutchkoff, com- 
menced to attack me in the press and in the Duma, cir- 
culating all sorts of gossip and slanders. The past master 
in shady affairs and espionage, Prince Andronikoff, man- 
ufactured an anonymous denunciation of myself and my 
wife and sent it to the investigating commission. 

“Among other things, I was convicted on the ground 
that I had neglected my duties. I was appointed Minister 
of War in 1909. During the five years preceding this war 
I succeeded in accomplishing a great deal for the Russian 
army. In 1904 the Germans did not yet consider them- 
selves ready for a war at two fronts, and they rejoiced that 
we were being beaten in the fields of Manchuria, even 
though their factories supplied us with munitions. But 
that war left our armed forces so disorganized that after 
the conclusion of peace our most important problem was 
the reorganization of the Russian army.” 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF 210 


I asked General Sukhomlinoff, former Minister of War, 
in his prison cell, whether the Grand Dukes interfered with 
the War Department, and whether their work during the 
war was helpful. The old man, who but a short time ago 
was one of the most powerful figures in the Russian Em- 
pire, replied :— 

“During my stay in prison I have worked upon my 
memoirs, in which I describe in detail the blunders made 
by the Russian government during the war. I have not 
the manuscript with me, but my wife knows where it is. 
If you like, I will be glad to give you a note to my wife, 
and she will let you examine the manuscript. You are at 
liberty to select for publication any passages you may be 
interested in.” 

He gave me a note to Mme. Sukhomlinoff. On the fol- 
lowing day I familiarized myself with General Sukhom- 
linoff’s memoirs and selected a number of extracts for 
reproduction. 

Speaking of Grand Duke Sergius Mikhailovitch, Gen- 
eral Sukhomlinoff said :— 

“When he was appointed Inspector of the Artillery it 
was understood that he was to co-operate with me and fol- 
low my instructions. Instead of this he took charge of the 
entire artillery department, gave instructions without con- 
sulting me or General Polivanoff, who was really re- 
sponsible for the work of the department, and reported to 
' the Tsar personally without informing us of the contents 
of his report. 

“T criticised such an abnormal state of affairs, and the 
Grand Duke never forgave me, mobilizing all his talents 
for intrigues against me. For instance, when I visited the 
Perm munition works and found that certain guns were 


220 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


not made in eighteen months because no reply was received 
from the Grand Duke regarding a misunderstanding in the 
design I criticised the ‘red tape’ in his department. Then 
the Grand Duke insinuated that I travelled to the Perm 
munition works and to other places merely for the purpose 
of getting travelling expenses from the government. 

“He was personally so partial to the Schneider-Krezo 
munition works that the mention of other firms which could 
produce munitions more quickly and reasonably aroused his 
indignation and he again insinuated that I was materially 
interested in these firms. Thus a vicious circle was cre- 
ated and the strongest opposition to the establishment in 
Russia of any new great munition works, as in other Euro- 
pean countries. The Schneider orders were filled also 
through the Putiloff works. The Grand Duke interfered 
directly with any orders placed by other departments with- 
out his knowledge. When I criticised him he tried to 
prove that I interfered in behalf of other munition works 
because I was personally interested in them. 

“As to the accusations that I betrayed Russia, it is an 
absolute fabrication, and however hard the judges tried to 
convict me on this point they were unable to do it. My 
work was interfered with by the grand dukes, especially 
Nicholas and Sergius. On account of them we lost four 
years of most valuable time. Grand Duke Nicholas mis- 
led the Emperor and failed to do his work as chairman of 
the Council of Defense of the Empire. He hindered the 
work of the commanders in their preparations in the event 
of war. He kept me from being present when he reported 
to the Tsar, fearing that his prestige as commander might 
be affected. He wasted war supplies unnecessarily when 
he knew that we had to use them judiciously. 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF 221 


“He permitted the inexcusable operations in Eastern 
Prussia and the march to the Carpathians, thus destroying 
three of our splendid armies. He abused his authority 
with regard to military courts and stopped at nothing in 
order to rehabilitate himself. He could hardly boast of 
chivalrous conduct becoming a Commander-in-Chief. 

“My trial was a travesty on justice. Instead of placing 
me upon the bench of the accused they should have tried a 
few grand dukes and other high dignitaries of that 
government. 

“IT am seventy years old now. Under the old laws of 
the Tsar’s government any criminal reaching the age of 
seventy in prison is set free. But here I am in prison under 
a socialist régime.” 

Before leaving the Prison of the Crosses, I had a brief 
talk with former Minister of Justice Scheglovitoff, who 
was responsible for staging the Beilis affair. I also spoke 
with Khvostoff, Minister of the Interior of the Tsar’s 
government. 

“T understand that you, as Minister of the Interior, 
tried to organize the assassination of Rasputin. Is that 
true?” I asked. 

“Rasputin was the evil genius of the Tsar,” he replied. 
“He made and unmade members of the Cabinet and ex- 
erted the most terrible influence upon the Tsar, even in 
matters relating to the war. I did make an attempt to 
have him ‘removed,’ but I failed. I didn’t do it cleverly 
enough. ‘So they caught me.” 

This is the simple story Khvostoff related as to how he, 
as Minister of the Interior, tried to bring about the assas- 
sination of Rasputin. The reasons he gave for his attempt 
on the life of the lewd, illiterate Siberian peasant who dom- 


222 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


inated Russia for many years is an eloquent commentary 
on the last days of the Tsarist régime. 

“Do you think the Germans are coming to Petrograd?” 
he suddenly asked me. 

“Why do you ask this question now?” J asked. 

‘Because I am in a most peculiar position,” he answered. 
“When I was a member of the Duma for several years, I 
fought in every way possible Germany’s commercial dom- 
ination of Russia. I prepared an exhaustive memoran- 
dum on the subject and outlined a plan of combatting this 
German invasion even before the war. And now I find 
myself in the peculiar position that I may be freed from 
this prison by the Germans if they enter Petrograd. Such 
is the irony of fate.” 

As I walked out of the prison I heard some of the re- 
turning visitors say that there had been disturbances in 
the prison the night before and that several prisoners had 
been shot by the guards. Outside the prison gates, here 
and there, the sidewalk was stained with blood. 

“Every night they shoot prisoners here,”’ said one of the 
women visitors dressed in mourning. “They always give 
an excuse that the prisoners attempted to escape.” 

Mme. Sukhomlinoff related to me how she was kept in 
solitary confinement in the fortress of Peter and Paul for 
six months. 

“It was filthy and stifling there, and the food they gave 
us was unfit to eat,” she said. 

The young wife of the former Minister of War had a 
taste of what some of the noblest men and women who 
had dreamed of Russian freedom experienced for years. 
Then she told me of her efforts to obtain her husband’s re- 
lease from prison. 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF 223 


“I have visited most of the Bolshevist Commissaries,” 
she said. “I have pointed out to them that under the 
Tsar’s laws my husband, who is seventy years old now, 
would have been released, and J asked them to free him. 
I said to them General Sukhomlinoff is not only too old to 
be dangerous to any political party, but he is so discredited 
by the stories brought out before the trial and at the trial 
that you could not find three men who would support him 
or any movement in which he might be interested. Each 
one of the Commissaries I visited agreed with me, and said 
that he would have no objection to set him free. I asked 
each of them to give me these statements in writing, but 
they all declined. They said they were afraid that my 
husband would be killed by the soldiers if they released 
him.” 


General Sukhomlinoff, Minister of War under Tsar 
Nicholas, who spoke to me so frankly in his prison cell about 
the blunders of the Russian autocracy, continued his re- 
markable revelations which he made in his hitherto unpub- 
lished memoirs. Describing his removal from the post of 
Minister of War, he said :— | 

“During 1914 I reviewed at a special audience with the 
Tsar all that had been done in my department. He ex- 
amined the report I submitted and expressed great surprise 
that so much had been accomplished during five years. 

“But Grand Duke Nicholas, to rehabilitate himself both 
at home and abroad as Commander-in-Chief, considered it 
of the greatest importance to place upon me all the blame 
for all his unsuccessful experiments, and endeavored to 
stage the whole affair so that he could not be held in any 
way responsible for our defeats. 


224 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“He urged the Tsar to have me removed. Instead of 
an official order I received a personal letter from the Tsar, 
which shows clearly that he removed me not because he be- 
lieved I had neglected my duties, but because of the pres- 
sure brought upon him by Grand Duke Nicholas. 

“This is the letter the Tsar wrote me in his own hand :— 


“Headquarters, June rr, 1915. 
“Vladimir Alexandrovitch: 


““ “After long consideration I have come to the conclusion 
that the interests of Russia and the army demand. your 
leaving the post of Minister of War at this moment. Hav- 
ing had a conversation just now with Grand Duke Nicholas 
Nikolayevitch, J am convinced of this definitely. 

““T am writing to you so that you may learn of this 
from me first. It is painful for me to express to you this 
decision, especially since I saw you only yesterday. 

““We have worked so many years together and there 
have never been any misunderstandings between us. I 
thank you heartily for all your work and for all the energies 
you have spent for the welfare and upbuilding of our army. 
Unprejudiced history will give you a verdict more generous 
than that of your contemporaries. 

“ “God be with you. 
“ “Respectfully yours, 
“ “NICHOLAS.” ” 


“When I became Minister of War in 1909 the Russian 
army was not fit to fight. In 1914 the army was in con- 
dition to mobilize rapidly and to fight,’ General Sukhom- 
linoff continued. “The reason why Russia was not prop- 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF 22.5 


erly equipped with war supplies was that none of the bellig- 
erents had expected so long a war. All that could be done 
in less than five years was done, but we had neither the 
time nor the means for better preparations in a country so 
backward in her industrial development as Russia. 

“But Grand Duke Nicholas interfered with my depart- 
ment much more than that. He was a Grand Duke, but 
not at all a great commander. But he exerted tremendous 
influence upon the former Tsar and hated me because I had 
predicted the failure of his project to reorganize the army. 

“The tutor of Grand Duke Nicholas, General Skalon, 
thus characterized his pupil:—‘He is cruel by nature, 
heartless, haughty, impulsive, base and cowardly.’ This 
characterization is merciless, but true. I may say that he 
spoiled whatever he undertook to do. 

“The late Premier Stolypin, speaking of the Grand 
Duke’s work as chairman of the Council of the Defense of 
the Empire, said it was the work of an inmate of an insane 
asylum. He introduced a number ‘of measures which 
served as the beginning of the liquidation of the Russian 
army and which culminated in the downfall of our mili- 
tary prestige. 

“Grand Duke Nicholas was my enemy ever since my 
appointment as Minister of War, and I could not depend 
upon his co-operation. Besides, he was accorded the priv- 
ilege of making personal reports to the Tsar concerning the 
military district of Petrograd without the knowledge of the 
Minister of War. Asa result of this a number of serious 
blunders were made. ~ 

“Thus, for instance, General Hazenkampf, the assistant 
to Grand Duke Nicholas, lost the plans of the Fortress 


226 $THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Committee concerning the defense of the Gulf of Finland. 
All the efforts of the secret police department to find these 
most important documents proved futile. 

“Not a word was said to me at the time the papers 
were lost. When I learned of this I mentioned it to the 
Tsar, but he remarked that the Grand Duke had already 
adopted measures to find the documents. It is quite pos- 
sible that these documents fell into the hands of the Ger- 
man Embassy and proved very useful to the German gov- 
ernment during the war. 

“In reviewing the troops the Minister of War is re- 
garded higher than the commander of the army. In my 
case the Grand Duke violated this rule. I considered it 
an insubordination and mentioned this to the Tsar. The 
Grand Duke, who was very ambitious and vain, never con- 
cealed his animosity to me and deliberately tried to offend 
me. When I reviewed the troops and greeted them he 
turned away demonstratively and continued to talk to the 
members of his staff. 

“Taking advantage of the weak character of the Tsar, 
he acted as he pleased, and my assistant, General Poliva- 
nov, eager to ingratiate himself with the Grand Duke 
Nicholas, betrayed me. 

“In 1911 I suggested to the Tsar that the commanders 
of our armies meet in Petrograd for a strategical conference 
in view of the possibility of war at our western front. The 
Tsar liked the idea very much and ordered half of the Win- 
ter Palace set aside for this purpose, as he desired to partic- 
ipate in the conference in the role of Commander-in-Chief. 
The General Staff prepared an elaborate program for 
the conference. The commanders of the armies arrived in 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF 227 


Petrograd. Then the Grand Duke Nicholas invited them 
all to dinner and told them that he was opposed to the con- 
ference. After the dinner he presented them to the Tsar, 
and an hour before the opening of the conference I received 
a note from Tsarskoye Selo informing me that the con- 
ference was postponed. 

“I explained to the Tsar that the questions to be con- 
sidered at the conference would be of great importance to 
him personally, that he would thus be able to familiarize 
himself with the commanders who might have to lead mil- 
lions of men to fight, that in the event these commanders 
were not sufficiently equipped for their important tasks we 
would have time to replace them by abler men. 

“But the Grand Duke did not like this plan. He said 
that the Minister of War wanted to examine the com- 
manders and that such a thing should not be permitted. 
He urged Count Frederiks to tell the Tsar that the holding 
of such a conference at the Winter Palace was almost a 
sacrilege. 

“The Grand Duke succceeded in convincing the Tsar 
that the conference should not be held. Thus I was placed 
in a position where I had to resign. Unfortunately, the 
Tsar refused to accept my resignation. Although the com- 
manders had been ordered to return to their posts the Tsar 
despatched new orders to the commanders and the con- 
ference did take place under my chairmanship. The Tsar 
was not present, nor was Grand Duke Nicholas. He was 
afraid of the examination, and, unfortunately for Russia, 
he proved during this war that he failed to pass his 
examination. 

“As chairman of the Imperial Defense Committee, he 


228 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


wasted four years, interfering with my work, and after- 
ward blamed me for all his blunders at the front, after he 
had practically ruined the three armies. 

“The Grand Duke’s animosity toward me was so widely 
known that even the German press frequently published ac- 
counts of my leaving the post of Minister of War on ac- 
count of the differences existing between Grand Duke 
Nicholas and myself. 

“In addition to his weaknesses as Commander-in-Chief, 
he was so influenced by his passion for spiritualism, in 
which his wife, Anastasya Nikolayevna, believed blindly, 
that he frequently sought in spiritualism solutions for some 
of the most serious military problems. 

_ “My stand with regard to the mobilization of the Rus- 
sian army averted a grave danger. 

“At first the Tsar wanted to assume the chief command 
himself, but the Council of Ministers persuaded him to 
remain in Petrograd. Then the Tsar offered me the post 
of Commander in Chief of the Russian armies. I did not 
accept it because I knew that with Grand Duke Nicholas 
remaining in Petrograd near the Tsar, upon whom he ex- 
erted an enormous influence, my work would be constantly 
hindered. 

“Then the Grand Duke was appointed Commander-in- 
Chief. 

“The beginning of our campaign of 1914 was very fa- 
vorable to us. Our army was so quickly concentrated that 
the Germans believed we had undertaken our mobilization 
secretly long before the war. 

“The energetic operations of our northern armies in 
Eastern Prussia, our successful resistance of the German 
forces by our centre and the occupation of Galicia by our 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF 229 


southern armies—all this indicated that the march of our 
armies to Berlin might be successful. 

“The Austrians were driven to the Carpathians. ‘Then, 
instead of the plan of action I elaborated, which would 
have assured our success, operations were undertaken by 
our northern armies in Eastern Prussia, which led to a 
catastrophe, and at the southern front we left Lemberg for 
some reason and undertook an offensive beyond the Car- 
pathians, where we suffered another great defeat and thus 
definitely paralyzed our center. 

“An old philosopher once said that in war many claim 
credit for a victory, while defeats are usually heaped upon 
one man, who is made the scapegoat. In this instance I 
was made the scapegoat. And yet Grand Duke Nicholas 
Mikhailovitch, in his memoirs published in 1917, describ- 
ing his own impressions of the army, wrote:—‘The 
Commander-in-Chief made many blunders not only from a 
strategical point of view, but because he failed to co- 
ordinate his operations with those of the Allies.’ 

“No great commander is insured at all times against a 
defeat, but the Grand Duke did not want to bear the re- 
sponsibility for any of his failures and looked about for a 
convenient victim. Then the Grand Duke commenced to 
urge the Tsar that I be removed from the post of Minister 
of War. | 

“Grand Duke Nicholas offered his services to the Tsar 
and submitted a project for the reorganization of the War 
Department. 

“In 1905, when I came from Kiev to Petrograd, the Tsar 
asked my opinion concerning the Grand Duke’s plan of 
reorganizing the army. I considered it my duty to oppose 
the plan of the Grand Duke. ‘The project concerning the 


230 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Chief of the General Staff was prepared by General 
Palitzin and was a poor translation of the German plan. 
Without hesitation I declared that such a plan was worth- 
less for Russia, and that while it might be suitable for 
Wilhelm it was not for Nicholas. 

“The Emperor agreed with me at the time, but after I 
had returned to Kiev the Grand Duke Nicholas insisted 
upon his plan and it was adopted. The Grand Duke never 
forgave me for my criticism. According to his project, the 
various departments in the War Office worked independ- 
ently and there was no unity of action. In 1909 every- 
body recognized that the Russian Army was not fit to fight. 
The reports of the various commanders submitted to the 
Emperor left no room for doubt on this point. 

“My prediction came true, and J had to undertake to re- 
pair that which was so thoroughly spoilt. We had no 
army and no fleet which could guard our country against 
an enemy’s attacks, and we surely were not in a position to 
threaten any other Power with an attack. 

“Just before I was appointed Minister of War, in 
March, 1909, there was a conference at Tsarskoye Selo 
under the chairmanship of the Emperor regarding the an- 
nexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. General Rediger 
was asked whether our army was ready for active opera- 
tions. He replied that our army was not ready. When 
Minister of Justice Scheglovitov, who is sitting right here, 
asked General Rediger whether our army was in a position 
to defend our country against attacks upon us the General 
answered categorically that the Russian army was not fit to 
fight. ‘The Japanese war exhausted us, and the immediate 
demobilization completely disorganized our army.” 


After I had left Russia J learned that General Sukhom- 


GENERAL SUKHOMLINOFF 231 


linoff and a number of other prisoners of the old Tsarist 
régime had been released by the Bolsheviki. 

The story of Sukhomlinoff is a characteristic page of the 
incompetence, intrigues and rottenness of the Tsar’s régime, 
which collapsed so easily. 


MAROUIS OKUMA 


Tokio, September, rgré. 


Brrore entering Siberia I sought the views of Japanese 
statesmen concerning the Allied expedition in Russia. | 
interviewed Marquis Okuma, formerly Premier and the 
Chancellor of Wasada University, perhaps the foremost 
Japanese statesman best known as the “Sage of Wasada” 
or the “grand old man” of the land of the Rising Sun. 

I asked Marquis Okuma what Japan was doing for Rus- 
sia and what Japan’s motives were in this expedition. 
Marquis Okuma said :— 

“It 1s most important to restore Russia as a great state. 
It is most important for the world to adjust the balance of 
power by restoring Russia. Russia may readjust herself 
as a constitutional monarchy or as a republic of federated 
states like the United States, but I have not the slightest 
doubt that Russia will be once more a great state. 

“Recently I outlined the way of saving Russia. I urged 
the Allies, and particularly the United States, which en- 
tered the war for motives of justice and humanity, to pay 
more serious attention to the present disordered state of 
Russia and to do their utmost to save Russia from complete 
ruin. In order to save Russia there is nothing that is more 
urgent than the reorganization of her army. Japan, as 
Russia’s close neighbor, is geographically best situated to 
take the lead in relieving Russia. If Russia is saved and 


her disbanded troops are reorganized, how much would it 
232 


MARQUIS OKUMA 233 


conduce to the welfare of the hundred and eighty million 
people of Russia who would again prove themselves worthy 
supporters of the Allied cause! 

“There is only one way to save Russia and that is to 
reorganize her troops and supply them with munitions and 
war materials. The territory of Russia is so vast that a 
victorious Allied expedition into Siberia could hardly ex- 
pect to pass the Urals. The Allies themselves can hardly 
rehabilitate Russia completely, but they can act as advisers 
and guardians. In my opinion it is our task to help re- 
organize the Russian troops and then the Russian people 
themselves will take in hand the rebuilding of the national 
structure of Russia. 

“If left alone Russia is sure to come into her own at 
some future day, but we cannot afford to lose time by 
waiting. 

“When I compare Russia with China,” went on Marquis 
Okuma, “I find that it will be much easier for Russia to 
adapt herself to the present conditions of the world. 
China has her own ancient civilization. She neglected to 
adopt the new civilization, therefore it is so difficult for 
China to adjust herself to the standards of other great na- 
tions. Her own old civilization has made things com- 
plicated for her. But it is quite different with Russia. 
Russia is comparatively young. Russia has no such ancient 
traditions to hinder her. ‘The Slavic people have assimi- 
liated Western culture and civilization. Therefore Rus- 
sia’s plight is, after all, not quite so complicated as that of 
China. 7 

“Russia is so vast that it will be hard to restore a monar- 
chical sovereignty. I believe that a democratic form of 
government would be far better for the restoration of Rus- 


234 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


sia. I really feel that a form of government similar to 
that of the United States would be ideal for Russia. And 
it is most important for the entire world that the various 
forces within the Russian people should be united under a 
democratic government—indeed it is most important for 
the future of civilization that Russia shall be a great 
factor in the affairs of the world. The restoration of 
Russia as a great state will contribute much to the welfare 
of the world and maintain universal peace.” 

Marquis Okuma paused for a time. Then his face 
‘brightened with a broad smile, his eyes beaming good- 
naturedly, as he continued :— 

“When I was a boy I had the impression that Russia 
was terrible. That was the general impression in those 
days in Japan. We looked upon Russia as upon a great 
Power full of terrors for us. We firmly believed that some 
day she would spring upon us and crush us. The people 
of Japan always feared Russia believing that she was 
bent on aggrandizement. Naturally we had to prepare 
ourselves for self-defense. 

‘“‘But when we came into closer contact with Russia, 
when we commenced to understand her, we realized that 
she was not terrible at all. The Russian people are honest, 
simple, innocent; on the whole they are good people. The 
fear we entertained of Russia was due to a great extent 
to the machinations of several bureaucrats, who were am- 
bitious and selfish and who were the power behind the Rus- 
sian throne. - 

“I feel absolutely confident that Russia will become our 
friend, just as the United States and Japan have become 
good friends. Russia has experienced and is still experi- 
encing an awful misfortune. We have a deep sense of 


MARQUIS OKUMA 235 


sympathy for the Russian people. And, as I have said be- 
fore, since Russia is not burdened with deeply rooted tradi- 
tions, she will soon shape a new destiny under a demo- 
cratic form of government.” 

I asked Marquis Okuma for his views on Betheviend 
and whether he thought that it would spread to other 
countries. He replied :— 

“The disease of Bolshevism is a product of special en- 
vironment and special circumstances. Bolshevism in Rus- 
sia was caused by the excesses of the former Russian gov- 
ernment. Bolshevism seems to contain a part of the doc- 
trines of Karl Marx. Now consider how Marxism is op- 
erating even in Germany, the home of Marx. The social 
democrats there modified Marxism to a great extent. 
When we examine the program of the social democrats 
we find that it is nothing else than simple democracy, with- 
out extremism. Circumstances alter and modify theories, 
and actualities mitigate doctrines even in Germany. All 
these extreme theories in the United States and in England 
and France are greatly modified. But in Russia the former 
government was bad beyond belief. Thus extreme reac- 
tion gave birth to extreme Bolshevism. On the one hand 
Russia had Tolstoyism, with the doctrine of non-resistance, 
and on the other Russia has Leninism with the doctrine of 
terrorism. These sprang as a result of terrible oppression 
and the unfair distribution of wealth and land. It is most 
deplorable that men like Lenine, who had dreams and 
fancies of social reconstruction, should be working indirectly 
as the instruments of militaristic Kaiserism. 

“It is possible that new forces may find a response among 
various nations, but these theories will be modified under 
healthy conditions—in England or the United States, for 


236 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


instance—for Bolshevism cannot thrive in these countries, 
for the very simple reason that there are no grounds to 
justify such extreme ideas. It is true that the distribution 
of wealth is not perfect anywhere and a period of recon- 
struction must come, but it will not be accompanied by 
extremism.” 

I asked whether Bolshevism was not spreading to Japan. 
Marquis Okuma answered :— 

“We have no reason to fear the spread of this disease in 
Japan. Moderate socialism may meet with some success 
here, but there is no room for extremism in Japan. After 
the war there will be a tendency in every country for more 
democracy and for a more just distribution of wealth, but 
Japan has little to fear Bolshevism, for, though our country 
ls a monarchy, the fundamental principle of our govern- 
ment is democracy. It has been so for many years. Our 
government is concerned with the general welfare of the 
people. Ours is indeed a government for the people. We 
have a real democracy without using the term democracy. 
It is the very keynote of our government. Therefore there 
is no place in Japan for such extremism as wrecked Russia.” 

Regarding the readjustment after the war Marquis 
Okuma said :— 

“T have always admired America’s spirit of justice, espe- 
cially her participation in this war for humanitarian, un- 
selfish motives in the struggle for the allied democracies 
of the world. If Germany is completely defeated and the 
militarism of Frederick the Great is swept away it will not 
be difficult to secure durable peace. There have been cer- 
tain groups of bureaucratic statesmen, especially the mili- 
tarists of Germany, who were prompted by the mistaken 
idea of aggression, and these people have frequently been 


MARQUIS OKUMA WWie22ty, 


the cause of trouble. Wars have almost always been the 
products of such mistaken ideas. Now the most important 
issue before the world is whether militarism can be com- 
pletely crushed or not. If this war ends by crushing such 
dangerous militarism absolutely the peace conference will 
find smooth sailing in the new adjustment. As a rule in- 
ternational conferences have been burdened with difficulties 
and have proved unsatisfactory. The diplomatic tricks, 
intrigues and secret ambitions that prevailed at such con- 
ferences were caused by militarism and so long as inter- 
national conferences are ruled by such tricks and mistaken 
ideas no real readjustment is possible. But when the fun- 
damental cause is removed, when militarism is crushed, the 
international conference will find a proper solution for the 
world problems. There will be no room for the spirit of 
military aggression in such a conference. ‘The conference 
will be ruled by a new spirit—by the spirit so often and so 
eloquently expounded by President Wilson. When the 
purpose of the Allies is achieved there will be real national 
freedom. The national map of Europe will be changed. 
Even then the readjustment will be easy, because the spirit 
of national freedom will prevail. New nations will come 
up, small nations will secure their independence and the 
peace of the world will not be disturbed. 

“T am looking forward not only to a political but also to 
an economic improvement and readjustment after the war. 
When the world order will be readjusted at the close of 
this war commercial and economic relations will no longer 
be dictated for political purposes. Economic relations will 
become independent of political intrigues. Then free 
competition—in the best sense of the term—will prevail, 
and the welfare of masses will be promoted everywhere. 


238 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


For the general welfare of the world I hope that peace will 
be concluded by the achievement of America’s purposes and 
by the realization of President Wilson’s plans for universal . 
durable peace and world justice.” 


ROBERT CECIL 


On the day of my arrival in London I interviewed one of 
Europe’s foremost statesmen, Lord Robert Cecil. 

My first question was about the League of Nations, but 
this he declined to discuss, saying: 

“IT am afraid I cannot speak on this subject as there is 
danger that whatever I say about it might be misconstrued 
in America particularly at this moment.” 

I then asked Lord Robert Cecil whether there would be 
a change of policy toward Russia in the near future and 
whether he was in favor of resuming trade relations with 
Soviet Russia. He replied: 

“T have always been opposed to a policy of military in- 
tervention in Russia after the armistice. Since we are not 
going to fight the Soviet Government of Russia, why not 
trade with Russia? Even if we disagree with that govern- 
ment, why should we starve the Russian people? Such 
a policy is both unfair and unwise. It seems to me that 
trade relations with Russia will be resumed before long. 
In fact, I understand that considerable commercial relations 
have already been established with Russia through Esthonia 
which concluded peace with the Soviet Government. Eng- 
land has not yet been trading there, as far as I know, but 
I am told that other countries, including America, are 
dealing with Russia right now—that is, they are dealing 
with Esthonia which is dealing with Russia. J can of 
course understand the difficulty and embarrassment on the 

239 


240 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


part of some governments in treating officially with the 
Soviets, in giving them official recognition just now, but 
I cannot see why the Russian people should be made to 
suffer because of this. We have no quarrel with the 
Russian people.” 

I asked Lord Robert for his views concerning the terms 
of the peace treaty of Versailles. He said: 

“The territorial arrangements affecting Germany as 
stipulated in the treaty are not so bad. ‘The territorial 
arrangements with Austria are of course much worse. 
But the economic arrangements with both are utterly in- 
defensible. It is only right to say that the device 
adopted—the undefined indemnity—was not an American 
invention.” 

“Could not the United States, then, exert sufficient in- 
fluence at the peace conference to prevent this device from 
being embodied in the treaty?” I asked. 

Lord Robert Cecil answered: 

“Of course strong efforts were exerted, but in the end a 
compromise was made.” 

“Would you say, on the whole, that you are pleased 
with the outcome of the war?’ I asked. 

To which he answered: 

“Of course it was better to win the war than to have 
been defeated by Germany.” 

“That goes without saying,’ I remarked. “What I 
meant was whether you are pleased with the outcome of the 
peace as worked out in Paris.” 

“TI certainly am not,” he replied. ‘The economic ar- 
rangements of the German peace treaty are an insane 
policy. In effect the Allies have said to the Germans: 
‘However hard you work, you cannot count on reaping any 


ROBERT CECIL 241 


benefit from your exertion. The more money you make 
the more will we take from you by way of indemnity.’ 
This has contributed to the demoralization of the will and 
energy of the German people which so many observers re- 
port. It has helped to render a section of them desperate 
and hopeless, ready for any adventure which may change 
their lot. It has been I am convinced one’ of the greatest 
incentives to German Bolshevism. It has also made it 
difficult if not impossible for Germany to obtain outside 
credit. Who would lend to a debtor the whole of whose 
assets are already pledged to others? Finally, by keeping 
alive in the minds of some of the belligerent nations a 
hope of receiving very large indemnity it has prevented 
them from making the efforts and sacrifices required by 
their financial position.” 

“Do you think there will be any changes in the terms of 
the treaty with Germany?” I asked. 

“Yes, I believe there will be changes,” he answered. 
“Our Prime Minister has recently asked Germany to sub- 
mit new economic proposals and has promised to consider 
them favorably if at all reasonable. Strangely enough, 
the most important questions were not those that attracted 
most attention at the Peace Conference. The questions 
that were most widely discussed—for instance, as to what 
shall be done with Danzig and the Saare Valley—were com- 
paratively unimportant. The really vital matters were 
economic. The result was deplorable and some way out 
will unquestionably have to be found. It may be that the 
Reparation Commission will make a drastic use of its 
powers in modifying the terms of the indemnity. It may 
be the Treaty itself will have to be amended. But what- 
ever is done, no time should be lost. The economic 


242 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


position in Europe is steadily, getting worse and may 
become past remedy. What a pity we have not the full 
influence of the United States to prevent the threatened 
disaster.” 


The following letter from Lord Robert Cecil is charac- 
teristic: 

“Foreign Office, 
“October 7th, rgrs. 
“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“I am much obliged to you for your letter from Rotter- 
dam, as well as that from Berne. I am sorry that I did 
not reply to the Berne letter; I quite thought that I had 
done so, but I suppose I must have overlooked it. 

“IT am most grateful to you for sending me the further 
information about the position of the Jews in Russia. 
Everyone must sympathize with them in the sufferings 
which they have endured. Indeed, quite apart from any 
other cause, the mere evacuation of the conquered terri- 
tories both by Jews and Russians has entailed, I am afraid, 
terrible hardships. Great efforts are, I understand, being 
made to assist these poor people, both by sympathizers out- 
side Russia, and by the Russians themselves. It is inci- 
dents of this kind which make one realise what really lies 
underneath the glories and glamour of war, and the man 
who is responsible, whoever he may be, for having loosed 
upon the world this terrible series of calamities, is surely 
one of the greatest criminals in the world’s history. 

“Your sincerely, 
“RoBErRT CECcIL.” 


In response to a letter of mine, accompanied by my 


ROBERT CECIL 243 


article entitled “In Sackcloth and Ashes,” depicting the 
tragedies of Belgium, Poland and the Jewish people in the 
World War, Sir Edward Grey sent me the following 
remarkable note: 


“Foreign Office, 
“June 5th, rgr6. 
“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“T am much obliged for your letter enclosing a pamphlet 
which you have written and which has safely reached me. 

“As regards the questions which you asked in the last 
two paragraphs of your letter, since the latter was written 
I made a speech in the House of Commons with regard to 
terms and prospects of peace. ‘There is really nothing I 
can add to this when it is taken in conjunction with the 
other pronouncements made both by the Prime Minister 
and myself on the subject. In case what I said has not 
been reported fully in the United States press, I enclose 
a copy taken from the official records of the House of 
Commons in case you care to have it. 

“T believe the best work neutrals can do for the moment 
is to work up opinion for such an agreement between 
nations as will prevent a war like this from happening 
again. | 

“If nations had been united in such an agreement and 
prompt and resolute to insist in July, 1914, that the dispute 
must be referred to Conference or to the Hague and that 
the Belgian Treaty must be observed there would have 
been no war. 

“Yours very truly, 
“E. Grey.” 


LEONID KRASSIN 


London, 1920. 


SEVERAL days after Leonid Krassin’s arrival in London in 
1920 I met him and discussed with him the problems which 
stirred the whole world at the time. He was in the midst 
of conferences with the British Foreign Office and was be- 
sieged by interviewers representing the leading newspapers 
of the world. He refused to give any interviews for pub- 
lication. Finally I succeeded in meeting him at midnight 
and secured the following important statements from the 
ablest and most reasonable representative of the Soviet 
Government abroad: 

You ask me to describe contemporary Russia. Soviet 
Russia is the State of the working people and the peasants 
who have taken away the land from the estate-owners and 
made it the property of the laboring people, who have ex- 
propriated the factories and the shops and given over their 
management into the hands of the workers themselves and 
to the organs of the Government which they have estab- 
lished. 

The war, which was started in 1914 by the Tsar’s Gov- 
ernment and which hastened the wrecking of the Tsarist 
throne, has exhausted the entire country, has cost millions 
of lives and undermined the very foundations upon which 
the economic life of the people rested. It was the war that 
called forth the revolutionary eruption, which did not stop 
at the overthrow of the autocracy, but ended, toward the 

244 


LEONID KRASSIN 245 


close of 1917, in the victory of the peasants and workers 
who removed from the Government the weak bourgeoisie 
which was incapable of guiding the ship of state, and have 
taken the Government into their own strong hands. The 
storm of the revolution, accompanied by the quaking of 
social foundations, naturally brought about disorganization 
of the economic and industrial life, and of the transport 
system of Soviet Russia. Thus the economic condition of 
the country at the moment the Soviet Government came 
into power was extremely critical indeed. In this respect, 
however, Russia is not an exception among the other coun- 
tries of Europe which participated in the world war. 
Neither in Austria nor in Germany, at least until 1919, did 
communism play any significant role in the direct conduct of 
their governments, nevertheless the economic and industrial 
conditions of those countries are desperate. ‘The absence 
of Bolsheviki in the Governments of these countries has not 
made their condition any better than ours, and even some 
of the victorious countries, such as France or Belgium, for 
instance, are struggling against a desperate crisis in every 
domain of their economic life. 

But Soviet Russia, aside from the miseries caused by the 
war of 1914-1917, had to drink a still more bitter cup. 
During the very first months of the existence of the Soviet 
power in Russia, it was subjected to a series of attacks and 
attempts to overthrow the Soviet Government, first on the 
part of Germany, and afterward, on the part of the Allies 
who mobilized against Soviet Russia some of their own 
troops, as well as those of other Governments, aided by 
those elements of the old landowners of capitalistic Russia 
who could not be reconciled to the overthrow of Tsarism 
and were interested in the restoration of their lands and 


246 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


their property. These separate attempts shaped them- 
selves in 1918 into a series of desperate military campaigns 
organized against Soviet Russia, requiring enormous finan- 
cial and material expenditures, munitions, all their per- 
fected arts of warfare, aiding the armies that attacked 
Soviet Russia with technical and military experts and ad- 
visers sent by the Allies who had already won their war. 
Soviet Russia had to resist a number of attacks in the West, 
East and South. The front in this war of Soviet Russia 
against her enemies was about ten thousand kilometers 
long. ‘Toward the end of 1918 Soviet Russia was cut off 
from the provinces where bread, coal, metal and naphtha 
were in abundance, and yet more than eighty-five per cent. 
of locomotives of the Russian transport system depended 
on coal and naphtha for their operation. Not contenting 
themselves with attacks from without, the Governments of 
the Allies endeavored to organize within Russia itself a 
number of conspiracies for the overthrow of the workers’ 
and peasants’ Government. Until the end of 1919 Soviet 
Russia was indeed a besieged fortress, and the only ma- 
terials which Soviet Russia received during that time con- — 
sisted of the bullets which the enemies directed against it 
from the other side of the fronts. It seemed that there 
was nothing that could save Soviet Russia, and yet owing to 
the indirect support of the proletariat of Western Europe, 
who expressed their will unmistakably on a number of oc- 
casions, refusing to ship materials and supplies needed for 
the war against Soviet Russia, stopping trains and ships, 
interfering with the sending of troops destined for the fronts 
against Russia, Soviet Russia succeeded in defeating and 
crushing the greater part of the armies that fought against 
it. The war would have been completely over and the 


LEONID KRASSIN 247 


workers and peasants of Russia would have had the oppor- 
tunity to concentrate the work of the entire government ap- 
paratus and all the local organizations for the purpose of 
improving the economic welfare of the country, if in April, 
1920, Poland did not start her attempt at overthrowing 
Soviet Russia. 

All the efforts of the Russian people had to be directed 
again in defense of their country against the aggression of 
their enemies. Again all the industries and the trans- 
ports had to work chiefly for the needs of the war. But our 
position is already infinitely more favorable than before. 
Siberia, Turkestan, the Baku region and Kuban are again 
united with Soviet Russia, and the crisis caused by the lack 
of necessities, that ring with which it was intended to 
strangle Russia in 1918 is already broken and can never be 
set up again. Soviet Russia will not end the war before 
the Polish Government of landowners and capitalists is 
overthrown—the Government that incited the Polish peo- 
ple into fratricidal war against the Russian people who did 
not and do not want to violate the independence of the 
Polish State. | 

The internal condition of Russia is, of course, very diffi- 
cult, particularly as far as the industrial centers of Central 
and Northern Russia are concerned. A considerable por- 
tion of the employees of the factories and shops are con- 
tinually serving in the army at the fronts, defending the 
socialist state with their breasts, organizing and leading de- 
tachments of the Red Army, regulating the transport of 
troops and war supplies. The delivery of foodstuffs to 
the cities is difficult because the greater part of the trans- 
port must be used for purely military materials. The posi- 
tion of the city population was particularly hard during the 


248 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


past winter owing to the lack of fuel. But when we con- 
sider the majority of the Russian population, the peasantry, 
it must be said that their condition had never before been 
so favorable as during the past few years. The peasant 
not only secured his land, but the greatest portion of his 
products which used to be sent to the cities before, remains 
in the villages now. The Soviet régime absolutely pro- 
tects the vital interests of the farmer. Having experi- 
enced the régimes of Kolchak, Yudenitch, Denikin and other 
Tsarist generals, who had tried to wage war against Russia, 
the Russian peasant who en masse is of course not a com- 
munist, has nevertheless become the most enthusiastic ad- 
herent of the Soviet régime and the Soviet State, because 
the Soviet régime protects to the fullest extent the vital in- 
terests of the peasantry. In the fact that the Russian 
peasants have become adherents of the Soviet régime, you 
will find one of the main causes of the invincibility of 
Soviet Russia. An even more important role in the suc- 
cess of the great struggle was played by the splendid or- 
ganization of the Russian working class, whose endurance, 
heroism and superior discipline manifested themselves both 
in the military struggle and in the organization of labor and 
industry. 

The further slow or rapid development of Russia now 
depends upon the foreign relations with Russia. Without 
machines, tools of production and materials for the re- 
organization of our transport, the reconstruction of our 
economic and industrial life will progress but slowly. For 
years to come the Russian workman and the Russian peasant 
are doomed to a comparatively wretched existence, but Rus- 
sia has nothing to fear for its future, even under such cir- 
cumstances. Russia is great and vast. Her resources of 


LEONID KRASSIN 240 


all sorts of raw materials, bread, lumber, fuel are enormous. 
The population of Russia, notwithstanding the privations 
caused by the war, is increasing more rapidly than the 
population of any other country. The Russian people has 
within it great forces which will manifest themselves in 
various spheres of human endeavor. And as now all the 
fruits of the work of the Russian workmen and peasants 
belong to themselves, the lack of necessary supplies, in the 
absence of support from abroad, will to a certain degree be 
replaced by a greater perfection of its own social organiza- 
tion. If, however, the Western European Governments, 
and particularly the Government of the United States, will 
realize that any further efforts to destroy by force the es- 
tablished Soviet régime of Russia will lead only to useless 
and hopeless waste of money and supplies, to the loss of 
hundreds of thousands of human lives, and the interrup- 
tion of the economic development of Russia at the cost of 
the further impoverishment also of Western Europe, then 
there is hope of a more rapid economic and consequently 
also cultural development of Russia with the support of 
the more industrially advanced countries. 

The aims and ideals of contemporary Russia consist of 
the rapid and complete development and utilization of all 
our economic possibilities in order to raise the cultural 
and spiritual level of the entire working people. 

As for the demands made of the Soviet Government in 
various countries, especially in France, concerning the pay- 
ment of the debts contracted by the defunct Tsarist Gov- 
ernment, the Soviet Government of Russia is ready to dis- 
cuss and examine them only at the beginning of official 
negotiations regarding the restoration of peaceful relations 
between Russia and other countries. There is no sense in 


250 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


considering this question before the opening of such negoti- 
ations. 

The progressive elements of the Russian people warned 
the bourgeoisie of the whole world as far back as 1905 that 
the Russian people will not pay the debts which the Tsarist 
Government contracted in Western Europe for the pur- 
pose of securing the necessary means to enslave and op- 
press the Russian people or to prepare for such wars as the 
Russo-Japanese war which the Russian Government started 
in order to divert the storm of national wrath from prob- 
lems of international reconstruction to the alleged danger 
which threatened Russia from other nations. The Petro- 
srad Soviet of Workmen’s Deputies in 1905 made public 
an appeal addressed to all the powers of Western Europe 
in which it was specifically pointed out that the loans then 
made to the Tsarist Government would not be recognized 
by the Russian people, and that when the Russian people 
will take the reins of government into their own hands, the 
Russian people will not honor these debts. That appeal 
was signed not only by all the socialistic parties, but also 
by the group of “Liberation” and the Constitutional Demo- 
cratic party organized at the time, and by such representa- 
tives of that party as Struve and Milukov. 

The Soviet Government does not decline to discuss these 
and other demands which may be made, but such discus- 
sions cannot be conducted in newspaper interviews or in 
private negotiations, not even during the negotiations for 
the resumption of commercial relations. These questions 
we will discuss only at an official peace conference of all 
the Powers where we are willing to examine all demands 
and where we will present also our own demands for the 
damage and losses caused us by the two years of war which 


LEONID KRASSIN 251 


we did not want and for the termination of which we ap- 
pealed to the Governments of all the countries from the 
very first day of its start. 

The importance of America for the economic regenera- 
tion of Russia and for the liquidation of the consequences 
which Russia, like other countries of Europe, received as 
an inheritance of years of war, is very great. America has 
enormous resources, highly developed industries and tech- 
nique, the most scientific modern methods of production, 
and, above all, great initiative, daring and quickness of 
decision, which the cultured countries of Western Europe 
lack. The importance of the American market to Russia 
is very great even at the present time, as a large number of 
the most vital industrial enterprises in Russia, particularly 
our transport, could quickly be readjusted with the aid of 
American materials and machines. America is perhaps the 
only country which, notwithstanding her participation in 
the war, has materials and machines in quantities which 
admit of exportation abroad. Leather, coal, cotton, vari- 
ous sorts of steel could be exported to Russia in considerable 
quantities. America is perhaps the only country which 
could furnish to Russia quickly a considerable number 
of ready locomotives and thus within a few months radi- 
cally improve the condition of our railroad transportation, 
and consequently render tremendous help to our industrial 
development. The delivery of cars, of railway materials 
of every kind, as well as machines and supplies necessary 
for the repair of boats and railways, various factories and 
shops, could also be easily accomplished by American in- 
dustries. 

But the importance of America’s aid to the industrial 
regeneration of Russia is not exhausted by furnishing these 


252 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


materials during the coming months, for some of these ma- 
terials may be secured also in other countries. American 
industry could play even a more important role through its 
supply of capital, of technical powers in the exploitation of 
the natural resources of Russia and in organizing upon a 
large scale the factories working on the production or secur- 
ing of raw materials. The industrial utilization of the 
most promising naphtha region on the Ukhta could be 
brought about in the near future only with the aid of Amer- 
ican enterprise. Another great project is the building of a 
railroad from the port of Soroki on the White Sea to Kotlas 
and from Kotlas along the parallel to Obi, thus crossing 
many millions of acres of the richest forests as yet un- 
touched by human feet. In those regions various ores and 
metals could be exploited, large factories and mills estab- 
lished for the production of paper, celluloid, etc. There 
is an enormous opportunity for American enterprise in the 
world’s richest coal fields, in the Kuznetsk basin and the 
Southern part of the Government of Tomsk. That region 
bordering on one side of the province of Altay, abundant in 
all sorts of ore and mineral wealth, and on the other of 
Minusinsk, the granary of Siberia, which is connected with 
all Siberia by navigation. 

The proper exploitation of naphtha in Baku, Grozny, 
Maikop and also in the region of Emba and the Urals may 
be brought about upon a large scale only with the partici- 
pation of American capital. 

The Soviet Government has often considered the possi- 
bilities and conditions upon which American industries and 
enterprises could be attracted for the purpose of elaborating 
the natural wealth of Russia and in this connection certain 
conditions have been worked out which enable me to state 


LEONID KRASSIN 253 


definitely that this task can be realized absolutely, and that 
the Soviet Government is in position to present to Amer- 
ican representatives of industry such conditions for the ex- 
ploitation of the natural wealth of Russia under which the 
establishment of the above-named factories will prove ab- 
solutely practical, commercially sound and _ sufficiently 
profitable. 


CHAIM WEIZMANN 
elas April, rg2z. 


Dr. Cuaim WeizManv, the president of the World Zionist 
Organization, Professor of the University of Manchester, 
is a famous chemist, who rendered invaluable services to 
the cause of the Allies by most important discoveries at a 
very critical period of the war. 

Dr. Weizmann has been conspicuously identified with the 
Zionist movement for many years. During the World 
War the Zionist Organization was crippled because of the 
peculiar position of the Jews, who found themselves in the 
armies of all the nations at war, in the ranks of both the 
Allies and of the Central Powers. 

The mantle of Dr. Theodor Herzl, the brilliant founder 
of the modern Zionist movement, fell on the shoulders of 
Dr. Chaim Weizmann, whose achievements for Zionism 
have gained for him the recognition of the Zionists through- 
out the world as the leader who actually succeeded in trans- 
forming the dreams and hopes of the Jews into a reality. 

It was he who secured the Balfour declaration in 1917 
in favor of making Palestine the National Homeland of 
the Jews. It was he who was most instrumental in the 
San Remo decision of the Supreme Council which ratified 
the Balfour declaration on April 24, 1920. 

On that historic day for the Jewish people Premier Lloyd 
George and other Allied statesmen said to Dr. Weizmann 
at San Remo: 

254 


CHAIM WEIZMANN 255 


“We have given you the start. Now it is your task 
to bring about the rebuilding of Palestine. If you fail, 
the fault will not be ours.” 

To this Dr. Weizmann replied: 

“The Jewish people will not fail.” 

I was with Dr. Weizmann at San Remo at the time. 
Humble and modest despite his great achievements, he 
fully realized the enormity of the task before him and the 
Jewish people. On that occasion he outlined to me some 
of the work that must be done by the Jews without delay in 
order that Palestine be made rich and great again, that it 
be developed economically, industrially, culturally and 
agriculturally. 

On the day of the San Remo decision Dr. Weizmann 
wrote the following lines in my notebook: 

“To-day Israel entered once more as an active factor on 
the world’s stage. No more a passive sufferer, but with a 
great opportunity to apply his energies and the accumulated 
experiences of ages for the upbuilding of his ancient home, 
which he ought to make into a shining beacon. Judea 
capta is no more.” 

After the San Remo conference I travelled with Dr. 
Weitzmann in Switzerland. The Jews everywhere were 
hailing the San Remo decision as the redemption of Israel, 
and Dr. Weitzmann as the redeemer. He sought the quiet 
of Switzerland to escape the first demonstrations and the 
praise that was showered upon him from various parts of 
the world. During the days that we were alone, I had 
occasion to discuss with him Palestinian problems from 
practically every angle. In the course of these interviews 
Dr. Weitzmann said: 

“The restoration of Palestine to Israel now is nothing 


256 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


short of a miracle. It is up to the Jewish people to make 
good the golden opportunity that is offered to them by 
the world. We can rebuild Palestine by hard work only, 
and I know that the Jews are ready to make enormous 
sacrifices for the regeneration of their ancient home. 

“As for the Arabs, the differences between them and 
ourselves will be more easily removed now that they know 
our status. They used to look upon the Balfour Declara- 
tion as a war promise that would not be kept when peace 
came. I hope they will no longer be misled by irresponsi- 
ble agitators. We need the Arabs and they need us, and 
with good will on both sides we can adjust our differences. 
As some one has wisely said, once we get out of the talking 
stage and start on the working stage, all these misunder- 
standings will disappear.” 

I asked Dr. Weitzmann to describe the beginning of the 
work on the Balfour Declaration. He answered: 

“When the war broke out, the Zionist organization was 
concentrated on plans of work in Palestine, with no politi- 
cal horizon, with indifference on the part of the Powers, 
and opposition on the part of Turkey. The war divided 
our forces, as we were separated by gulfs and trenches. 
Russian Jewry was practically broken up. The pale of 
settlement became the theatre of war, and in the wake of 
the contending armies came ruin and misery. 

“There was a small band of our workers in England 
who thought it their duty to utilize their position to save 
what could still be saved. We were a small, unofficial, 
unrecognized band of workers, but we knew that we voiced 
the sentiments of the great masses of the, Jewish people, 
and we set out to create a political position for the Zionist 
movement. 


CHAIM WEIZMANN 267 


“We reasoned thus:—‘Tt is possible that as a result of 
this war Turkey will disappear. It is therefore possible 
that the territories constituting the Turkish empire may be 
considerably readjusted and recast. The whole political 
structure of the Old World will go by the board. There- 
fore, the Jewish claims must be clearly formulated, and 
we must secure the recognition of these claims by the 
Allies. We further thought that the war was really a duel 
between Germany and England. 

“We felt that if we could get England to understand 
the achievements of the Jews in Palestine and thus secure 
England’s support for Zionism, half the battle would be 
won. ‘That was our theory. I agree it was a gamble, but 
a gamble worth taking. We had strong opposition. We 
were a small band of foreign Jews and against us were the 
might and prestige and bank accounts of the established 
leaders of the British Jewish community. 

“But we were inspired by the righteousness of our cause, 
and we said to the British statement :—‘The Jews will get 
Palestine, whether you want it or not. There is no power 
on earth that can stop the Jews from getting to Palestine. 
You gentlemen can make it easy for them, or you can make 
it hard for them, but you cannot stop them.’ 

“They asked us how many Jews there were in Palestine, 
and what they had accomplished there. We opened our 
books to them. It is true, we had very little to show as 
yet. We said, ‘All that you see has been achieved under 
most trying circumstances, always in the teeth of opposi- 
tion on the part of the Turkish government, and also of 
your rich Jews who tell you that the Zionist movement is 
merely the fancy or hope of a few enthusiasts. 

“We tell you we have behind us the millions of Jews 


258 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


who are inarticulate now and we speak on their behalf.’ 

“Tt took at least two thousand interviews with British 
statesmen to get them to understand Zionism. I myself 
made more than a thousand visits to British statesmen in 
order to familiarize them with the true meaning of Zionism. 
Of course, we had the great support of American Zionists, 
which was most helpful. People have criticised me be- 
cause I asked only for a national home for the Jews and not 
for a Jewish state. They said the Balfour plan did not 
mean a Jewish state. It certainly did not mean a Jewish 
state. 

“The Jewish colonists who went to Palestine years ago 
and who have done there such wonderful work really 
prepared our political claim for Palestine. They were 
the real political leaders of the Zionist organization. We 
only supplemented their work.” 

In answer to my question whether it was true that the 
British military authorities in Palestine were at that time 
more sympathetic to the Arabs than the Jews, Dr. Weitz- 
mann said: 

“It may seem strange, but it is true that almost all 
Englishmen, after visiting Jerusalem, were at first unsym- 
pathetically inclined to the Jews. But I can easily under- 
stand the reasons for that. The first reason is due to the 
appearance of the Jews in Jerusalem. The Englishmen 
saw long-coated, long-bearded, old Jews, with earlocks— 
the so-called Chalukah Jews. They had expected to find 
there the Jews of the Bible. So the officers and soldiers 
asked themselves, ‘Is it for these Jews that we were called 
upon to make so many sacrifices, and shed our blood that 
they shall have Palestine?’ 


CHAIM WEIZMANN 259 


“The Arabs, on the contrary, seemed to them to fit much 
better into the scenery of the Orient by their picturesque 
garb. 

“The second reason is that the British officials found the 
Jews more difficult to deal with than the Arabs, who 
obeyed their orders. They found the Jews intellectually 
their equal, and they resented it. 

‘The third reason is a personal one. Among the British 
troops there were clerks and businessmen who naturally 
looked for future opportunities, and some of them regarded 
Palestine as a good field for their activities after demobiliza- 
tion. Some of them had their eyes on certain concessions, 
but when the Zionists stopped these concessions, the British 
soldiers did not realize that it was done for the purpose of 
preventing speculation and exploitation. They simply 
attributed that to the eagerness of the Jews to grab every- 
thing in Palestine. 

“T can understand the reasons why they liked the Arabs 
better than the Jews. But, then, I am not pleased with 
Jerusalem as it is, either. Jerusalem must be cleaned up. 
The Chalukah Jews, the Jews depending upon alms from 
abroad, must be changed. I know it is difficult to change 
the old generation. But the young generation can still be 
changed. We shall build Yeshivahs, houses of Jewish 
learning, for the younger element, for we must not destroy 
before we build. 

“There are so many fine intellectual qualities in these 
Jews that we cannot afford to lose, now that so many. of 
the important institutions of Jewish learning have been 
destroyed in Russia and Poland. We must build them 
anew in Palestine. We must introduce the most modern 


260 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


methods in our schools there, but we must make every 
effort to preserve some of the finer traditions of Israel in 
the educational institutions.”’ 


I interviewed Dr. Weizmann in Washington in April, 
1921, after he had been received by President Harding to 
whom he explained his mission to the United States and 
described his recent impressions of Palestine. 

Answering my questions, Dr. Weizmann said: 

“Since the decision of San Remo, we have had the ap- 
pointment of Sir Herbert Samuels as High Commissioner 
of Palestine, and the beginning of immigration to Palestine. 

“Since the doors of Palestine were opened for immigra- 
tion, Jews have come there at the rate of from 1,000 to 
1,200 amonth. They are mostly young men and women, 
sturdy, educated, open-air people, from Poland, Bessarabia 
and Southwestern Russia. Some of them have come from 
no man’s land. 

“Most of these immigrants have been through the war, 
have seen and lived through all the hardships and tribula- 
tions of present-day Eastern Europe. No work is too hard 
for them, and the very rigorous medical examinations have 
yielded about 86 per cent. of people fit for the hardest work 
possible, in which they are actually engaged. 

“They are breaking stones and building the roads of 
Palestine. They are organized in camps, in various parts 
of the country, and one can hear on the roads of Palestine 
their merry Hebrew songs mingled with the sounds of the 
hammers and shovels. 

“That these people took their immigration to Palestine 
seriously, and that they have not come there merely as 
refugees, may be gathered from the fact that though the 


CHAIM WEIZMANN 261 


majority of them are intellectuals, they are prepared for 
agricultural pursuits, and about 70 per cent. of them have 
learned the Hebrew language before coming to Palestine. 

“This immigration is at present limited, but we know 
that there are about 30,000 young men and women of this 
same type living in the hell called the Ukraine. Some of 
these are managing to escape at great peril. And thus we 
get a stream filtering through Bessarabia and Poland. 

“About 50,000 are waiting in Bessarabia to be admitted 
to Palestine. To our great sorrow we are not in a position 
to bring them all to Palestine at present, as we must reckon 
with the present limited resources and undeveloped state 
of the country. And also with our limited means. 

“But we feel certain, and we have the authority not only 
of our own experts, but also of the Administration of 
Palestine, that if we had but the means, room can be made 
in Palestine for a very considerable immigration to that 
country within a comparatively short time. 

“The Executive Committee of the World Zionist Or- 
ganization is in possession of elaborate plans for coloniza- 
tion, the establishment of hydro-electrical power, house 
building, education and so forth. 

“Palestine seems to be at present the only place in the 
Near East which is beginning to settle down to constructive 
work, and although it is surrounded by countries disturbed 
by unrest, the new settlers in Palestine are permeated by the 
spirit of building up a commonwealth socially just, eco- 
nomically healthy, and intellectually high. 

“This would serve as a great stabilizing factor in a part 
of the world which is destined once more to play an impor- 
tant rdle in the development of mankind. This is symbol- 
ized already in the effort to erect a university on Mount 


262 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Scopus. Great Jewish intellectual forces like Albert Ein- 
stein are endeavoring to make it a success. 

“The Jews of America can give not only financial aid, 
but also some men and experience in the task of reconstruc- 
tion. We see the beginning of this in the work of the 
American Zionist Medical Unit. 

“J am sure that the Jews of this great country will make 
a glorious contribution to the ancient Jewish Homeland. 

“Almost a year has passed since the Supreme Council 
at San Remo made its decision with regard to Palestine. 
The Jewish people is on trial. We are scrutinized by all 
the nations of the world, and we must make good, for we 
have both the forces and the resources necessary for the 
upbuilding of Palestine. 

“While opportunities in Palestine are numerous and most 
enheartening, two-thirds of the Jewish race in Eastern 
Europe are living at this moment under intolerable con- 
ditions. 

“On the eve of its renaissance Jewry stands wounded 
and mutilated. It has only one hand free for constructive 
labor, and with the other it is desperately struggling to 
ward off blows that threaten it with destruction. The Jews 
of America are providentially the remnant that may now 
liberate the larger part of Israel.” 

In 1923 Dr. Weizmann discussed the situation of Pales- 
tine and the Arab-Jewish problems in the Holy Land as 
follows: 

“The mandate has been ratified. It has met with the ap- 
proval of the civilized world. The resolution of the Amer- 
ican Congress will rank with the Balfour Declaration, and 
to us Jews this is one of the most important documents in 
the annals of our history. 


CHAIM WEIZMANN 263 


“We are attempting to build a home in Palestine and 
we are conscious that this building can only be successful if 
it will be done in co-operation with the peoples and popula- 
tion of Palestine. We are coming into Palestine not as 
conquerors. We are coming into Palestine not to domi- 
nate anybody. We are coming to build up Palestine to- 
gether with the people there, taking our place according to 
our merits and our achievements. The other people in 
Palestine, the Arabs and Christians, have to recognize that 
we have a right to do what we intend to do. Just as we 
recognize that Palestine is going to be the common home- 
land for Jews and Arabs, we want the Arabs to recognize 
that we have a right to come into Palestine to establish our- 
selves there, not on the back of anybody, but with them, 
to work and create new values of which Palestine is capable. 

“Palestine has a population of about 700,000 non-Jews, 
an overwhelming majority of Moslems, a small minority 
of Christians and another small minority of Jews. Roughly 
speaking there are 500,000 Moslems, 100,000 Christians 
and 100,000 Jews. Since the war and even before the 
war there has been a striving on the part of the Arab people 
for a revival, and being anxious for the revival of the 
scattered Jewish people, we treat with respect and rever- 
ence any attempt of revival amongst other people. 

“We recognize to-day, that between us and the Arabs in 
the Near East, and particularly in Palestine, stand many 
forces—perhaps destructive forces—which try to empha- 
size this estrangement that has taken place between these 
two races which are akin to each other. But we also see 
as present in Palestine that the tendency which was so 
marked three or four years ago—the tendency of two en- 
trenched camps watching each other with suspicion, is grad- 


264 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ually declining. We are trying to co-operate with them. 
We work with them. We are looked upon with a certain 
amount of suspicion. We are looked upon with suspicion 
particularly because we represent to the Eastern races the 
West, and the West is looked upon with suspicion at present 
in the Near East. The various tribulations through which 
Europe and the East is passing to-day, Bolshevism, Kemal- 
ism, the unsettlement of European affairs, all these reflect 
on the fancy of an Oriental people. Every rumor in the 
East is exaggerated. Every vibration in the political 
world is reflected and exaggerated in Palestine. Pales- 
tine is a peculiar country. There is no country in the world 
where the distance between the sublime and the ridiculous 
is so small as in Palestine. One stands constantly with 
one leg on the sublime. Eighty generations look down 
upon you. Palestine is like a sounding-board. Every 
noise goes forth over all the world. If a Jew is killed in 
Piccadilly, the Ukraine, or run over by a motor car on 
Broadway, it is an ordinary affair. If something of that 
kind happens in the Holy Land, it becomes an act of state, 
an act of violence,—two races clashing. All these factors, 
the tribulations of Europe, mental and moral strife, contrib- 
ute to make life in Palestine much more difficult than it is 
elsewhere, but making allowances for all that there is a 
growing tendency to co-operate, to meet, to work together, 
and I think the Arabs are beginning to accept us, as we have 
made it quite clear that we have got to live with them, work 
with them, not to establish our home on their back, but to 
co-operate with them. Every unbiased observer would con- 
firm and bear out this particular point of view. It is a 
difficult task. We must work slowly, and we must over- 
come a great deal of friction and prejudice, but I think 


CHAIM WEIZMANN 265 


we are a sufficiently tenacious and stiff-necked people and 
we shall carry through. 

‘As for the Jewish side of the problem, we knew the 
Jews were capable of coming into a civilized country, 
of adapting themselves very rapidly to this civiliza- 
tion and performing a very useful réle in this civilization, 
but whether the Jews would be capable of laying the 
foundations of a civilization and doing all that is neces- 
sary in the fight with nature, overcoming all these diffi- 
culties in order to build up a country from its very elements, 
that we did not know. 

“We have now convinced ourselves that we can do it. 
- We have to-day in Palestine a generation of Jews that come 
from everywhere, by the most complicated roads. I can 
almost hear the tramp of these people over the various 
roads of Europe and Asia, finding their way and knocking 
at the gates of Palestine. They come from the Ukraine, 
from Morocco, from Mesopotamia, from Canada, from 
India and Russia. They are divergent in their culture and 
education, language and habits. They are different in 
types. The one thing that unites them is the upbuilding 
of this Home. You see these people coming from ‘No 
Man’s Land,’ politically and morally, you see them on the 
swamps of Palestine, on the hills and valleys, working as 
common laborers on the roads—people with high standards 
of education, sometimes with university degrees, and here 
they are draining swamps, breaking stones, building roads, 
afforestating the country, doing all that which is known to 
American or European civilization as pioneering. Here 
you have all these scattered people, suspended morally, 
politically and physically, finding not only a mere refuge— 
for refuge is a tent—but finding a center for their spiritual 


206 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


life, application for their energies—their constructive ener- 
gies become more constructive. The swamps are being 
drained, the hillsides are blossoming, the roads are being 
built by the idealistic onslaught of these people. They 
come in thousands and thousands will follow. Behind these 
thousands stand other thousands and behind these, others. 

“TI was in Jerusalem three years ago at the time of the 
so-called ‘pogrom.’ J have seen pogroms in many parts of 
Europe, but there was one distinctive feature in the Jeru- 
salem pogrom. We counted our dead. There were 20, 
and the Jews of Jerusalem said to me, ‘For the 20 who have 
been killed there will be 20,000 coming in to take their 
place and take the same risk and face it all.’ That is a 
real force—and more than that—it is a force which makes 
for civilization, which makes for stability. For a long 
time to come the Near East will be a troublesome region. 
In Egypt, Mesopotamia, Transjordania and Central Arabia 
there are many forces which defy European civilization and 
culture. Coming not as conquerors but with peace in our 
hearts and minds, we who still have a great deal of the 
East and who have gone through Western schools, could in- 
terpret the West to the East and the East to the West and 
we could perform an act of civilization which no other peo- 
ple could perform—to serve as a bridge between two cul- 
tures that watch each other to-day with suspicion but might 
be united to-morrow. And—perhaps the day will come 
when there will be another seat of the League of Nations, 
a real seat of peace, harmony and justice, a seat for 
all these humanitarian ideals which have formed the bed- 
rock of our civilization—in Jerusalem. The prophets are 
not dead yet. They are silent to-day but they may speak 
to-morrow.” 


ALBERT EINSTEIN 


New York, rgaz. 


ProFessor ALBERT EINSTEIN, who introduced a new sci- 
entific conception of space and time and of their relation 
to the physical world, has come to America not to expound 
his theory of relativity, but to interest the Jews of America 
in the building of a Hebrew University in Palestine. 

The foremost Jewish genius of our age is a modest, un- 
assuming, kindly gentleman, almost childlike in his sim- 
plicity, with a keen sense of humor. 

Professor Einstein, who is a Swiss citizen and a professor 
of the University of Berlin, suffered from attacks directed 
against him by German anti-Semites when their agitation. 
was intense. Writing to the London T?mes he thus char- 
acterized wittily the present tendency to discriminate be- 
tween men of science on nationalist grounds: 

“The description of me and my circumstances in the 
Times shows an amusing feat of imagination on the part of 
the writer. By an application of the theory of relativity 
to the taste of the readers, to-day in Germany I am called 
a German man of science, and in England I am represented 
as a Swiss Jew. If I come to be regarded as a béte noire, 
the description will be reversed and I shall become a Swiss 
Jew for the Germans and a German man of science for 
the English.” 

I interviewed Professor Einstein regarding the purpose of 


his mission in America and the needs of the University of 
267 


268 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Jerusalem. Answering my questions, Professor Einstein 
said: 

“The purpose of my visit to America at this time is to 
enlist both the moral and material support of the Jews of 
America for the building of a Hebrew university in Pales- 
tine. 

“Such a university would assist enormously in the up- 
building of Palestine, for it would become a spiritual center 
of Jewish education and culture for the Jews in the Holy 
Land. Later this university would also attract Jewish stu- 
dents of other lands, who would come to study in Palestine. 

“But, above all, I consider it most important that there 
exists this great common Jewish cultural enterprise, which 
is of the utmost significance for all Jews. 

“Through my contact with Jewish students in various 
parts of Europe I have arrived at the decision that such an 
institution of learning in Palestine is essential. 

“T have met the Jewish students of Austria, Hungary 
and of Russia, who are clamoring to complete their educa- 
tion in European universities. I have seen the difficulties 
and hardships which these young men and women are ex- 
periencing. JI have observed the discriminations, which 
have become intensified since the war. 

“Poverty, the economic collapse in Central European 
countries, has fanned the flames of national hatreds, and the 
Jewish students have suffered in Germany, in Poland and 
especially in Hungary. A large number of Jewish students 
are barred from the universities on religious grounds. 

“The situation has been aggravated also by the fact that 
a number of universities in Eastern Europe have been closed 
altogether. 

“Many of the students have come to me for aid. I have 


ALBERT EINSTEIN 269 


seen their helplessness, their hardships and their needs. 
And in this way I came to the realization that a Hebrew 
University in Palestine is an absolute necessity for the Jew- 
ish people. 

“The traditional respect for knowledge which we Jews 
have maintained intact for many centuries of severe perse- 
cution makes us feel all the more keenly the present dis- 
crimination against so many talented sons and daughters 
of the Jewish people who are knocking in vain at the doors 
of the universities of Eastern and Central Europe. 

“And those who have gained access to the spheres of 
free research had to do so by undergoing a process of as- 
similation which has crippled the free and natural develop- 
ment of the spiritual character of our people and deprived 
them of their cultural leaders. 

“It seems to me, it is also the duty of the Jewish people 
to preserve, through the university we are planning to estab- 
lish in Palestine, the neglected branches of Hebrew litera- 
ture, language, archeology and history. 

“Distinguished Jewish scholars in all branches of learn- 
ing are waiting to go to Jerusalem where they will lay the 
new foundation of a flourishing spiritual life and will pro- 
mote the intellectual and economic development of Pales- 
tine. 

“The Hebrew University in Palestine would become a 
new ‘Holy Place’ to our people. 

“Despite the crude realism and materialism of our times, 
there is a glimmer of a nobler conception of human aspira- 
tions. ‘The American people exemplified this by the part 
they played in recent years in the affairs of the world. 

“The Jews of America are at this time the most fortu- 
nate portion of the Jewish people. Europe is sick and suf- 


270 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


fering, and the Jews of Europe are experiencing greater 
sufferings, discriminations and persecutions than ever be- 
fore. 

“So I have come here with feelings of hope that my 
spiritual aims with regard to the university in Jerusalem 
will find a sympathetic response in America, and will be 
realized through the support of American Jewry. 

“A group of physicians has been formed for the purpose 
of raising funds for the medical faculty of the university. 

“A general committee is also being organized, including 
a number of prominent academicians and financiers. With 
the help of these people I hope to secure the required moral 
and material support to enable us to build the university 
without delay. 

“Not only Zionists are realizing the importance of this 
university, but a number of distinguished American Jews 
not identified with the Zionist movement have expressed 
their interest and sympathy for this cultural enterprise and 
have promised to assist me in making it a success. 

“T am not an organizer myself. ‘The university will be 
organized by specialists. I shall be glad to work with 
them, and help them in every way possible. I am at the 
disposal of the university, and am prepared to participate 
in the scientific department. 

“Not being a prophet, I cannot foretell whether my mis- 
sion in this country will be successful. All I can do is to 
do what I can. But the sympathy and interest for this 
work I have found in this country both among the Jews 
and the Gentiles is most encouraging. 

“Various considerations have led to the selection of the 
following University Institutes for the initial scheme: 

‘“7—-A department of Jewish and Oriental studies— 


ALBERT EINSTEIN 271 


philology, literature, history, law, archeology, religion and 
philosophy, mainly Jewish but including also Arabic and 
Semitics in general. This department is to be a university 
school for scientific studies, able to offer training to both 
graduates and post-graduates and empowered to confer de- 
grees. 

“2—A research institute for the Hebrew language, the 
object of which will be to guide and assist its modern de- 
velopment by the study of its vast treasure-house of litera- 
ture. 

“On the scientific side it was decided to begin with Re- 
search Institutes, as suggested in 1913 by Dr. Weizmann 
and the University Committee, in which the chief scientific 
adviser was the late Prof. Paul Ehrlich, and not with teach- 
ing faculties. The initial plan comprises the institutes for 
physics, chemistry and microbiology. 

“In the advancement of science Jews have always taken 
a noble part, but the fruits of their labors have not been 
reaped by Jewry. 

“Ts it conceivable that, in addition to the tragedy of 
Jewish science without a home, there could exist a Jewish 
National Home without science? The traditional pride 
of the Jewish people in their learned men would never suf- 
fer such humiliation. 

“And there is no doubt that to those non-Jewish ideal- 
ists and believers in spiritual values who have supported 
Zionism a Jewish Palestine means, perhaps mainly, a real 
renaissance of that Jewish genius of which they have seen 
so many examples scattered in many lands.” 


MAX NORDAU 


London, rg2z. 


I Have met Dr. Max Nordau many times. I visited him 
practically every time I came to Europe before the World 
War, and since the war. I corresponded with him while 
he was in exile in Spain during the war. 

Dr. Nordau, one of the intellectual giants of our time, 
the brilliant philosopher, publicist and critic, and one of 
Israel’s most courageous leaders, discussed in the course of 
our numerous meetings literature and art, war and peace, 
and particularly the Jewish question in its various aspects. 
A modern Jewish prophet, fiery and eloquent, fearless and 
far-sighted, he was nevertheless almost childlike in his sim- 
plicity, which is the outstanding characteristic of all true 
greatness. 

Our last meetings took place in London, in 1921. I 
visited him in his little room in the Zionist offices there, and 
he called on me at my hotel. He talked about his latest 
works and complained of the indifference with which some 
of his more serious productions were treated. 

“TI do not read the reviews of my books,” he remarked 
on one occasion, with a smile. ‘‘What can the critics tell 
me about my work that I do not know myself? If they 
praise me, I could praise my own work better than others 
could, and if they damn me, I could damn myself more 
effectively than others could, for I know my own faults and 


my qualities better than the critics do.” 
272 


MAX NORDAU 273 


During the last interview I had with him he analyzed 
the Jewish problems after the war, the tragedy of the Jew- 
ish people and the hope that lay in the realization of the 
Zionist ideal of rebuilding Palestine as a National Jewish 
Homeland. He said: | 


“The World War was a war of the Jewish people. There 
have been proportionately more Jews in the firing-line than 
even Frenchmen, although these have furnished the highest 
percentage of mobilized soldiers. They have fought at 
least as heroically as the English and the Americans who 
have covered themselves with the greatest glory, to judge 
by the number of distinctions and honors they have won. 
They have suffered more than the Serbians and the Bel- 
gians who were considered to be the most lamentable victims 
of the conflagration, and the conclusion of the peace treaty 
leaves them in a worse condition than the Austrians, the 
Germans and the Russians who are justly, if cruelly, pun- 
ished for having been the cause of the scourge which has 
tortured and martyred mankind for five years. 

“It is easy to substantiate these affirmations with figures 
and facts. ‘The number of Jewish soldiers in the ranks of 
all the contending armies is estimated as being between 
850,000 and goo,ooo. Assuming that there are thirteen 
millions of Jews in the world, including those of the neutral 
countries, this means that approximately seven per cent. of 
the whole Jewish population has worn uniforms, which 1s 
more than can be said of the English and the Italians, and 
far more than the Americans. Eighty thousand Jews have 
fallen in battle or died from wounds, while the casualties 
amount to a little under two hundred thousand. ‘These are 
the direct losses which do not include the numberless victims 


274. THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


of that infamous scoundrel, the chief commander of the 
Tsarist Russian army, the mass-murderer Grand Duke 
Nicholas who, at the beginning of the campaign, ordered 
the whole Jewish population of the war area in Poland to 
be driven out of their homes and to be hunted in the in- 
terior of Russia where half of these unfortunate women, 
children and old men perished along the roadside, like 
beasts of the wilderness, from cold, hunger, exhaustion and 
ill treatment. 

“So much as to our active and passive share in the war. 
But now the tragic difference between Jews and the other 
nations that participated in the horrifying adventure. 
These people all fought for an interest which they under- 
stood, which was clear to them, which they felt to be worth 
every, even the supreme, sacrifice. The aggressors broke 
the peace in greed for domination, for profit, for conquest, 
for glory, for gratification of vanity. The assaulted na- 
tions knew that they were bound to risk everything, all that 
they possessed and their life as well, in order to defend 
their national existence and honor. But we Jews, what did 
we fight for? For one thing only—for the accomplish- 
ment of our duty toward the state of which we were citizens 
or subjects. Far be it from me to minimize this reason 
of our heroic effort. We had always protested of our 
patriotism, we had boasted of it, we had gloried in it, it was 
only fit and just that in the hour of supreme danger, when 
feelings are tested as to their sincerity and vigor, we should 
prove by acts the value of our words. 

“But if this holds good of the Jews of such countries as 
the United States, England, France, Italy, where the laws 
make no difference between natives of different creeds and 
races and where all citizens enjoy the same rights, it is 


MAX NORDAU 275 


heartrending to think that our brothers had also to brave 
death for states like Germany and especially Russia where 
they were despised, hated and persecuted, where the Gov- 
ernments treated them worse than criminals. Yet ‘even in 
the German and Russian armies the Jewish soldiers did 
more than their share, as is proved by the number of casu- 
alties as well as distinctions bestowed on them, surely not 
out of favor, but because even the most hardened, unjust 
and anti-Semitically biased superiors could not help ac- 
knowledge, most reluctantly, with a bit of ribbon or a cross 
of inferior rank, conspicuous deeds of valor accomplished 
under the eyes of their comrades in arms. 

“And now that the war is over, at least theoretically, the 
nations draw up their accounts and establish the balance 
sheet of profits and losses. The vanquished, of course, 
have no reason to rejoice. They are inexorably punished 
for their sins, they have to atone for the abominable crimes 
of their rulers, whom they have enthusiastically cheered 
when they were led on to murder, arson and pillage, whom 
they have followed, not only without revolt or even mere 
reluctance, but with overbrimming joy. They are ruined, 
humiliated, dishonored, and it will take a century of honest 
work and decent behavior before they will be pardoned for 
their misdeeds. 

“The victors in the struggle, although badly damaged, 
also have good reason to be dissatisfied. The United 
States has the proud consciousness of having fought with 
sublime disinterestedness for justice, right and freedom, of 
having been the glorious champion of the noblest causes, 
and of having saved civilization. England has crushed the 
most dangerous rival she had ever encountered in her way, 
and destroyed the naval power which disputed with her 


276 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


flag the rule of the seas. France has gained back her lost 
provinces, immensely augmented her colonial empire and 
vindicated her ancient world position. Italy has com- 
pleted her national unity and stretched her frontiers be- 
yond Triest, to the long coveted Trentino, and probably 
Fiume. Poland has been re-established to an extent she 
never would have dared dream of in these last 150 years. 
A swarm of small nations has been called into existence and 
begins, full of glee and expectations, a new political and 
cultural life. They have obviously paid a big price for this 
achievement, but they have obtained it and cannot fairly 
complain of the bargain. | 

“But how are we Jews rewarded for our sacrifice? 
What have we gained with our superhuman efforts? What 
are our assets against our dead, our maimed, against the 
destruction of the health and property of an appalling 
number of our brothers in all the warring countries? 

“Even in the victorious states of Western Europe with 
the express exception of Italy, which forms an admirable 
contrast to her neighbors and allies, a deep ground wave 
of anti-Semitism is welling up furiously and threatens to 
drown us. 

“In France there is perhaps no open discrimination 
against the native Jew; but the foreign Jew is ever sur- 
rounded by an atmosphere of suspicion and contempt; he is 
the permanent object of police vexations, and in some parts 
of the country and the protectorates, even the native Jew 
has to suffer ignominious treatment. In Algiers Jewish 
students who served in the war as officers and won distinc- 
tion for their gallantry have been rudely denied admission 
into the university associations, and in Tunis the Jews suf- 
fered from street riots and violent attacks of French and 


MAX NORDAU 277 


Arab mobs without the local authorities lifting a finger to 
protect them against brutal assaults. 

“In Germany they are made the scapegoat of all national 
crimes and follies. It is charged they have undermined 
the army, they have caused the cowardly flight of the 
former Emperor, the downfall of the empire, the domina- 
tion of the Socialists, the Communist troubles, the famine, 
the depreciation of the German currency. They must be 
expelled from the Fatherland, or better still, exterminated 
on the spot. | 

“In Austria bitter hatred of the Jew vents itself on every 
occasion. He is hunted in the streets of Vienna, he is as- 
saulted in the lecture rooms of the university, he is hei- 
nously libelled in the press. 

“In Hungary pogroms of the most frightful character 
have occurred in dozens of places. Thousands of innocent 
Jews have been slaughtered with bestial fury. Those that 
remain are frightened out of their senses, so much so that 
they rush in panic-stricken throngs to the baptismal fonts 
and seek salvation in conversion, a collective cowardice and 
degradation without precedent in the annals of our history. 

“The horrors of Poland, Russia and foremost, the Uk- 
raine, are too well known, alas! A hundred thousand mu- 
tilated corpses of Jews—men and women, old people and 
children—are strewn over the cursed soil of those countries 
which have drunk streams of Jewish blood shed by fiendish 
mobs. Unutterable terror is maddening those that have 
not yet been actually killed, tortured, sullied or robbed of 
all they possess, but are day and night trembling under the 
present menace of death in its ghastliest shape. Millions 
of Jews are condemned to perish most miserably. Their 
only.chance is rapid flight. But where to? Even America, 


278 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


the land of refuge, the haven of salute, the Mother that has 
ever opened her arms to human beings, even America takes 
on a sternly hostile mien and extinguishes the torch of the 
gigantic statue at the entrance of New York Harbor— 
Liberty enlightening the world! 

“There would be no redeeming point in this desolate pic- 
ture of the present unparalleled distress of our race, but for 
one event which I would unhesitatingly call a miracle if I 
were inclined to use mystic language. England, with the 
consent of her allies and associates, has promised the Jew- 
ish people Palestine, to establish there their national home. 
Interpret this term as you like—at all events it means that 
as soon as England receives from the League of Nations 
the mandate for assuming the administration of the country 
of our fathers, she will throw it open to us, so that our 
threatened, ill-treated, ruined, famished despairing masses 
may find a spot on the face of God’s earth where they may 
know rest, peace, security and comfort, perhaps joy of life 
again. ‘The blessed land where the shade ot Rachel will 
welcome with maternal tenderness her returning children 
and where the hallowed memories of our great ancestors 
will inspire and guide them, will hold out before them 
bright hopes and magnificent ideals. 

“The most tragic, the most burning problem is that of 
East European Jewry. You know the fearful plight of 
the millions of our people living in the former Russian and 
Austro-Hungarian empires and in the Roumanian kingdom. 
Did I say that they lived there? The word life is too fine 
for the miserable existence to which they are condemned. 
They are unprotected and rightless. Even if they are the- 
oretically recognized as citizens of their birthland, they are 
practically outlaws. They are treated as pariahs. Gov- 


MAX NORDAU 279 


ernments and administrations cruelly discriminate against 
them. They bear all the burdens of the state, but en- 
joy none of its benefits. Their Christian countrymen 
look at them with eyes of contempt and hatred, constantly’ 
threaten their personal security and often actually attack 
their life and property. They are practically excluded 
from the public schools, and compelled to go abroad in 
search of higher instruction. The respect of the human 
personality, the dignity of free men are brutally denied 
them and they have ever to tremble before the whimsical 
hostility of the ruling class and the sanguinary instincts 
of the mob. 

“The problem of the Western Jew is of a different char- 
acter. It is a moral problem. They are not materially 
endangered. If they are callous, they may be content and 
happy. If they methodically shut their eyes, they may 
dream themselves in a fool’s paradise. But those among 
them that have reached a higher degree of mental develop- 
ment, that are sensitive and delicate, that strive after unity 
and harmony of feeling, have their heart rent and their 
soul torn. They persuade themselves that they are legit- 
imate sons of their country, they are proud of their political 
nationality, they are the most loyal, the most enthusiastic 
patriots, often to the point of vicious chauvinism, but they 
experience permanently the mortification to be faced by the 
undeniable fact that their Christian fellow citizens con- 
sider them as a distinct element, as half strangers, if not 
as total aliens. They distrust the sincerity of their attach- 
ment to their homeland, do not think one moment of iden- 
tifying them with their own breed and nationality, and do 
not credit them with the same color of emotions, the same 
trend of thought, the same views of the world and life, the 


280 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


same motives of action, the same ideals which they know 
or imagine themselves to possess. 

“The notion of this abnormality, of this strange aloof- 
ness of their Christian environment, inflicts on the culti- 
vated Jews an uneasiness which, in too many cases, 
reaches the stage of despondency and even despair and 
destroys the equilibrium of their being. Some are prompted 
to become contemptible renegades, others degrade them- 
selves to rabid anti-Semites, many make desperate efforts 
to overcome their innermost nature and to change the 
deepest foundations of their sentimental and intellectual 
structure, with the result that they become enigmatic, 
suspicious and antipathetic to Christians and loathsome, or 
at best an object of pity, to Jews. 

“The problem of East European Jewry seems the more 
urgent of the two. ‘There it is a question of life and honor. 
For generations the Jews of the East have clamored for 
emancipation, convinced that this would be their salvation. 
In Russia they were slaves. They were pent up in certain 
territories where there was no room for development, for 
profitable exercise of their natural gifts, for wholesome 
manifold activities. They were excluded from all official 
careers. The percentage norm of all higher schools de- 
barred them from the possibility of quenching their burn- 
ing thirst for knowledge or forced them to seek in foreign 
countries, at the price of humiliation, of unbearable dis- 
comfort, of ruinous outlay, the opportunities which Russia 
roughly denied them. Infamous police practices, the 
Damocles sword of Oblavas, of arbitrary expulsion and in- 
carceration, incessantly suspended over their heads, de- 
plorably educated them to habits of bribery, of dodging, of 
all kinds of doubtful contrivances which in the long run 


MAX NORDAU 281 


could not fail to exercise a corrupting influence on their 
eharacter, 

‘“‘Now Russia has broken down. But the revolution and 
the destruction of the Tsarist state have not brought the 
Jews the liberty they have so long sighed for. In Great 
Russia the Bolshevist terror has indeed created the full 
equality between them and the Christian population, but it 
is an equality in misery and utmost distress. In Ukraine 
the most abominable pogroms have taken place and the 
Jews have been victims by the tens of thousands of the un- 
speakable horrors of torture, slaughter, shame and robbery. 
In Poland they have been hunted, vexed, ill-treated, and 
are now subjected to a disastrous economical boycott 
which must end in utter ruin, if continued for any length 
of time. Finland dishonored itself by an hostility which 
takes all sorts of forms, also the most cowardly and con- 
temptible—that of mass expulsion. 

“Hungary, which was, for so long, considered a sort of 
paradise, at least for lukewarm Jews, which was a strong- 
hold of extreme assimilation, even more so than the coun- 
tries of the Occident where Judaism had drifted the 
farthest away from its national traditions, Hungary, whose 
capital, Budapest, was sneeringly nicknamed ‘Judapest’ by 
the anti-Semitic idiots of Austria, has rushed with the lust 
of a preying hyena into the ranks of the pogrom-lands and 
does its best, or its worst, to make up for lost time, with 
particularly enraged carnage. | 

‘“Roumania, and what is left of Austria and Germany, do 
not go to the length of murder and open pillage, but there 
is no kind of moral ill-treatment which they do not inflict 
on their Jewish inhabitants. They surround them with a 
suffocating atmosphere of hatred and contempt; they hin- 


282 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


der them by all sorts of cunning devices in the peaceable 
pursuits of their callings; they put officially or officiously no 
end of insurmountable obstacles in the way of their careers ; 
they expel war refugees by the thousands and hermetically 
shut their frontiers with locks and bars against all Jewish 
immigrants, even those that in Austria come from the prov- 
inces which were formerly parts of the empire and have now 
become Roumanian, Czecho-Slovakian or Polish territories. 

“What hope is there for these eight millions of stricken 
Jews in Central and Eastern Europe to see their unbearable 
situation ameliorated? What remedy is available for the 
healing, or be it only for some relief, of their moral ills? 
The civilized powers have made attempts, which, how- 
ever, give an impression of being make-believe rather than 
prompted by a really serious purpose, to intercede in their 
favor with their tormentors. Great Russia must remain 
outside of these considerations. For the time being, it is 
inaccessible to Western influence or intervention, and in or- 
der to excuse in their own eyes and in those of the world 
their pitiable inactivity in the face of the heart-breaking 
sufferings of so many millions of innocent human beings, 
the Occidental powers favor the spreading of the infamous 
lie that Bolshevism is a Jewish movement, that the Russian 
Jews have invented it, and propagate it, so if they suffer 
and perish in Russia, they have only what they deserve, 
and the conscience of the idle onlookers remains at rest. 

“Denikin has been mildly advised to curb somewhat the 
gangs of cowardly murderers and thieves under his com- 
mand; but there is no indication that either he or his bestial 
officers and men have paid the slightest attention to these 
soft whispers from the West. 

“With the new states that owe their existence or ag- 


MAX NORDAU 283 


grandizement to the good will of the Allied Powers, the 
latter have dealt somewhat more authoritatively. They 
have inserted in the peace treaties, which constitute the 
fundamental charters of the states, clauses prescribing re- 
spect for the rights of national minorities. These articles 
should in reality bring about the full emancipation of the 
Jews and their equality before the law with all other citizens 
of the several countries. But the governments of the new 
independent states established by the grace of the peace 
conference, demurred as long and as obstinately as was pos- 
sible against this obligation, and when finally they could 
not help signing the treaties, they manipulated matters so 
that the solemn document remains a scrap of paper as far 
as the Jews are concerned. Roumania is an old adept at 
the sport of poking fun at accepted stringent obligations, 
and Poland, Finland, Austria, as well as Hungary, bid fair 
to compete successfully with her in this role. As to the 
Allied Powers, they connive benevolently at this shame- 
ful breach of faith and contempt of given pledges. 

“This is the Eastern Jewish problem. And its solution? 
I see only one—emigration! It is difficult to move mil- 
lions? Undoubtedly; it is much easier to let them perish 
on the spot without lifting a finger to save them. But 
where shall they go? There is the rub. Australia and 
America, where there is still room for some two or three 
hundred millions of human beings, will not consent at pres- 
ent to receive our unhappy wandering brothers in search 
of a home. So they must stay and submit to the awful 
conditions of their present existence? This would be ter- 
rible. JI am still an optimist, in spite of the actual ghastly 
aspect of the world; I still believe in progress and do not 
abandon the hope that even the sub-human Slav peoples 


284. THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


will rise some day to the human level. But this will take a 
long time, and in the meantime our unhappy brothers will 
perish if they are not led out from their hell. 

“At the root of this attitude of the non-Jews lies the 
new-fangled preposterous theory of the superiority of the 
so-called Aryan races, which condemns the Jew, on the 
ground of inferiority, to the role of a Pariah. For this 
problem there is also a solution, and only one: the exist- 
ence of a Jewish nation, recognized formally as such, re- 
ceived on terms of equality in the League of Nations, qual- 
ified by this status to claim the treatment of peers by all the 
other nations of the world. 

“Zionism is the only solution of the Jewish problem. 

“Zionism opens to the millions of the East, the land of 
refuge—Palestine. Zionism gives the Jews a legitimate 
place in the League of Nations and guarantees their real 
equality.” 


WALTER RATHENAU 


Berlin, July, 1922. 


Wuen the Rapallo Treaty was signed between Germany 
and Russia, the Allied statesmen were thrown into con- 
sternation. Germany was sharply rebuked for having up- 
set the plans of the economic conference. In France 
protests and threats were hurled against both Germany and 
Russia. The Rapallo Treaty was denounced as a new 
evidence of Prussian treachery. It was branded as the first 
step to a Russo-German military alliance replete with the 
gravest consequences. 

In the course of my recent travels through Europe I dis- 
cussed the Rapallo Treaty with the men who signed it for 
Germany and for Russia, and with others who are familiar 
with the inner workings of the various political and eco- 
nomic conferences that have vainly endeavored to readjust 
Europe. | 

One of America’s best informed statesmen, who played 
a most important role during the war and the peace con- 
ference, and who had the greatest opportunities to observe 
European diplomacy at close range, discussing the Russian 
situation and the Rapallo Treaty, said to me: 

“Tt is as sure as fate that Russia and Germany will get 
together, that the Rapallo Treaty is but a prelude to a 
military alliance between these two nations in the future. 
All that the Allies have done with regard to Russia and 


Germany necessarily forced these two nations to combine. 
285 


286 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“Such an alliance holds within it the seeds of the gravest 
consequences, for the Atlantic powers some day will be con- 
fronted by a new and formidable combination of powers. 
The Allies by their action have practically forced such an 
alliance among all the nations on the other side of the 
Rhine—Germany, Russia across Siberia, as far as the Pacific, 
with perhaps Japan and even China, and the Islamic world, 
against the Atlantic powers. What a regenerated Russia, a 
readjusted Germany, an aroused and irritated Islam, with 
Japan and China as their allies, could do in a conflict 
against the Atlantic powers within twenty-five or thirty 
years 1s a situation too terrible to contemplate.” 

Several days before the assassination of Walter Rathe- 
nau, Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and one of Eu- 
rope’s foremost constructive statesmen, I had a long inter- 
view with him at the Foreign Office in Berlin. At first he 
was willing to give me a frank expression of his views, but 
not for publication. Afterward, however, he consented to 
my publishing an interview, provided I submitted to him a 
copy of the manuscript. He revised this interview on the 
eve of his tragic death. I received the manuscript, with his 
revisions, at eleven o’clock on Saturday morning at the 
Foreign Office. About ten minutes before, Rathenau had 
been murdered by agents of the monarchist organization 
near his home in Grunewald, on his way to the Foreign 
Office. His secretary had not received the news of his 
chief’s assassination when he handed me the interview 
which Rathenau had revised during the previous day. 

As Kathenau was practically the father of the Rapallo 
Treaty between Germany and Soviet Russia, I was partic- 
ularly interested in his views on Russo-German relations. 
He denied that the Treaty was a step to a military alliance 


WALTER RATHENAU 287 


between these two nations. He was particularly emphatic 
in denying that the Treaty contained any secret provisions. 
Then he asked me, with‘a smile: 

“Do you think we would sign a secret treaty with the 
Soviet government of Russia? The secret would be out 
in twenty-four hours.” 

In revising the manuscript, Rathenau changed these 
words to read as follows: 

“We have made no secret treaty with Russia, and we 
will not make any.” 

He explained to me his reasons for concluding the treaty 
with Russia at Rapallo while the Genoa conference was in 
session, as follows: 

“The treaty we signed is a peace treaty between Germany 
and Russia. It is neither a military, political, nor even a 
trade treaty. We negotiated it some time before the 
Genoa conference and could have signed it before. But 
we did not desire to prejudice the work of the Conference. 
We signed it during the Conference because we learned that, 
according to a memorandum prepared in London before the 
Genoa Conference, it was planned to make Russia also a 
creditor of Germany. Jussia was to be asked to insist also 
on reparations—perhaps not for herself, but for the other 
powers—she was to be asked that Germany’s debts to Rus- 
sia should be paid to the other powers. Practically all the 
great nations were our creditors, and Russia was to be added 
among our creditors. Before the Genoa Conference this 
was decided upon by the powers. Germany was the only 
power that was kept out of a series of secret preliminary 
conferences held at the Villa d’Alberti. It was then that 
we resolved to sign the Rapallo Treaty. We were blamed 
and sharply criticized for having done what we were actus 


288. THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ally forced to do. Two other powers did the same thing— 
they also negotiated treaties with Russia at the same time, 
only they signed them later, but they were neither criticized 
nor censured in any way. 

“After the Rapallo Treaty we acted as mediators be- 
tween Russia and other powers, and some of the statesmen 
of the other powers thanked us for our efforts in that direc- 
tion. We helped to bring Russia closer to the Western 
powers. We encouraged the more conservative elements 
of the Russian government, as is evidenced by the fact that 
the only criticism in Russia against the treaty came from 
the ranks of the extreme Left.” 

In answer to my question whether there was any ground 
for the opinions that the Rapallo Treaty was but a prelude 
to a Russo-German military alliance in the future, Dr. 
Rathenau replied: 

“The Rapallo Treaty is nothing else than a peace treaty, 
by which we recognized the Soviet Government. We have 
no secret treaties of any kind with Russia, and we will not 
make any. 

‘““Rhussia’s reconstruction can come about only through the 
united efforts of the powers, and the sooner that is started 
the better for all. Every day of delay now will cause much 
more than a day of delay afterward in bringing about such 
a reconstruction. Germany, knowing Russia well, and hav- 
ing come into closer contact with Russia in the past, will 
naturally be in a position to do most for Russia’s readjust- 
ment, through our organization ability, our technical expe- 
rience and our familiarity with the required methods.” 

“What is most essential for the purpose of the re- 
adjustment of Europe and its reconstruction?” JI asked. 

Dr. Rathenau replied: 


WALTER RATHENAU 289 


“First of all it is essential to demobilize the public opin- 
ion created during the past seven years. Thus far the 
demobilization of this public opinion has not yet begun. 
For seven years the Allied countries and the United States 
heard only one side of the case. It was not a fair trial. 
The other side has really not been heard to this day. 
Whatever was said by us or in our favor was immediately 
branded as propaganda. As soon as any statement pre- 
senting our case appeared in any newspaper outside of 
Germany, hundreds of other newspapers declared such a 
statement to be a falsehood inspired by German pro- 
pagandists. 

“We are now going to publish twenty-two volumes of 
documents relating to the World War. We are throwing 
open the archives of our Foreign Office to the whole world. 
It is to be a scientific work, prepared under the supervision 
of unprejudiced historians. What other government is 
going to do the same? For seven years our side of the case 
was not heard. Now the ‘criminal’ is telling everything, 
while the innocent lambs will be taciturn on this subject. 
They are not going to open the archives of their Foreign 
Offices which could reveal some very interesting facts. The 
demobilization of prejudiced public opinion should begin at 
once, if the world is to be readjusted. 

“The United States will have to help in the recon- 
struction of the world. The United States will eventually 
discover that it cannot disregard the plight of Europe. I 
can understand why the United States dislikes Europe now, 
or why it is disgusted with it, or tired of it, but it will 
find out that it cannot continue to maintain this attitude of 
of indifference. ‘The United States decided the outcome 
of the war and the United States decided the peace. ‘The 


2900 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


United States is thus really responsible for the consequences 
of the peace. It is true that it did not ratify the Treaty 
of Versailles, but the Treaty between the United States and 
Germany contains the stipulation that the advantages 
secured by the Treaty of Versailles shall not be forfeited 
by the United States, and in this way the United States 
recognized that peace treaty. 

“The condition of Europe is now worse than it was be- 
fore the war. Before the war Alsace-Lorraine was per- 
haps the sorest spot. How many sore spots are there now 
after the end of the world war? 

“The only sign of returning reason was to be seen in the 
recent conference of the bankers in Paris. They have 
practically made it clear that the reparation clauses in the 
treaty would have to be revised to meet facts instead of 
theories. The money-lenders understand this question 
better than anybody else. Without them the world can 
hardly be readjusted now. At present there is so much un- 
employment, idleness and laziness. Instead of working, 
people seem to be holding one another by the throat. 
Under such circumstances nothing can be accomplished. 
The beginning must be made by the demobilization of pre- 
judiced public opinion created during the war. For seven 
years the world was fed on falsehoods, and the atmosphere 
must now be cleared in order that reason may prevail.” 


GEORGE CHICHERIN 
Berlin, July, 1922. 


I InTERVIEWED George Chicherin, the Commissary for 
Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Republic of Russia, who 
signed the Rapallo Treaty for the Russian government. 
He received me at the Esplanade Hotel in Berlin and dis- 
cussed the Russian situation at considerable length. An- 
swering my question about the impression that the signing 
of the Rapallo Treaty produced in Russia, Chicherin said: 

“The Russian people regard this as the model of all 
treaties to be concluded with other states by Russia. The 
principle of wiping out all claims, as fully laid down in 
the Russo-German Treaty, is considered by us as the only 
basis for future relations between Russia and other states. 

“The ruling idea is that we must now build our new 
future. The needs and interests of foreigners are guar- 
anteed by our new legislation and by the agreements with 
other governments and concessionaires—all these, of course, 
within the limits of our system of nationalized property, 
transport and soil. . 

“But the past must remain the past. We cannot take 
upon ourselves the old burdens. We also have our 
counter claims, resulting from the invasion of Russia and 
from intervention. The mass of our people is extremely 
sensitive with regard to these counter claims. Our people 
felt the calamity of intervention. It is therefore impos- 


sible for them to consent that the claims of Russia’s cred- 
291 


292  #THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


itors shall be recognized, while our counter claims are not 
recognized. It is the reciprocal wiping out of all claims— 
as in the Russo-German treaty—that the Russian people 
consider the only possible solution.” 

When I remarked that the fear has been expressed that 
the Rapallo Treaty was the beginning of a military alliance 
which may become a serious danger in the future, Chicherin 
answered slowly: 

“The Russian government desires peace—with every- 
body. Its wishes regarding Germany are directed to eco- 
nomic collaboration, and we are equally desirous of secur- 
ing economic collaboration with other countries. If other 
countries are afraid that we will unite ourselves too closely 
with Germany, the best way of preventing this is for them 
to enter into friendly relations with Russia. If everybody 
is hostile to us and only Germany is friendly to us, such 
hostility is imposed upon us by the other powers.” 

Discussing America’s attitude toward Russia, Chicherin 
said: 

“The American government is very poorly informed 
about Russia. It still seems to think that a change of gov- 
ernment is imminent there. Every careful observer will 
absolutely refute this idea. ‘The enormous majority of the 
Russian people is completely behind the government. It 
is impossible to maintain indefinitely a wall between the 
United States and Russia. It is inevitable that the Amer- 
ican government will realize that it will have to deal with 
our government. It would be much better for both if that 
were done sooner. American trade can only profit from 
such an arrangement. At present, business between Amer- 
ica and Russia is impossible, because American business- 
men feel that since there are not even de facto relations, 


GEORGE CHICHERIN 293 


there can be no protection—and every business man wants 
trade relations resumed. 

“If the American government were fully informed of the 
present state of things in Russia, it would not continue to 
wait for a change of government there. In some utter- 
ances made by the American government it is stated that 
there will be no relations with Russia until the Soviet gov- 
ernment is replaced by another. In other utterances it is 
only a change of system that is demanded. So far as this 
change of system refers to security for foreigners and the 
guarantee of personal rights, it is already provided for in 
our new legislation. But so far as the American govern- 
ment demands a complete change in our system of property 
and the full reéstablishment in Russia of private property 
instead of our national ownership—which means that the 
American government demands a fundamental change of 
our whole economic system—in other words, the abandon- 
ment of our present régime—that is obviously impossible. 
The mass of workers will not reéstablish private property 
in the factories, and the mass of peasants will not permit 
the restoration of big land properties. The national con- 
trol of foreign trade and big production in Russia is ab- 
solutely essential for the protection of our people against 
their enslavement by the predominant capitalist states. 
Our system is one of self-defense and of the protection of 
the political and economic freedom and independence of 
Russia.” | 

Of intervention, Chicherin said: 3 

“We are not at all sure that the French government has 
abandoned the idea of a new intervention. The French 
government isgpersistently hostile to us. The idea natu- 
rally arises that either the French government still hopes to 


294 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


overthrow our government, or it must try to come to terms 
with our government. Since the French government is re- 
jecting all our offers for an agreement, our natural assump- 
tion is that it still entertains hopes to overthrow the Soviet 
government of Russia. Of course, I do not know the plans 
of the French government but experience has shown that all 
attempts to overthrow us by force were doomed to complete 
failure, and on the contrary helped to cement more strongly 
the solidarity of the Russian people.” 

Those who regard the Rapallo Treaty as the beginning 
of a Russo-German military alliance found their opinioin 
confirmed by Leo Trotzky’s recent threat. When it was 
reported that France was on the point of exerting military 
pressure on Germany by invading the Ruhr, Leo Trotzky, 
in a statement to the foreign press representatives, declared 
as follows: 

“Suppose France brings military pressure on Germany. 
In that event Poland can hardly remain passive. If Po- 
land acts against Germany, I question whether we can re- 
main passive ourselves.” | 

Karl Radek, the Soviet government’s leading propagan- 
dist, discussing the Russo-German treaty, recently wrote: 

“Many silly things have been said about a military 
agreement between Soviet Russia and Germany. We are 
alleged to have obligated ourselves to maintain an enormous 
army. If Poland and its more or less sincere friends de- 
cline to reply to the question concerning the limitation of 
armaments, it must begin to dawn even on the simplest 
mind that it is not because of a secret agreement with Ger- 
many, but because of a secret agreement between France 
and our neighbors that we must keep our army intact.” 

That Russia and Germany would some day be drawn to- 


GEORGE CHICHERIN 295 


gether after the world war, was a foregone conclusion to 
those who knew the temper of the Russian and the German 
peoples after the Peace Conference. The Rapallo Treaty 
was but a gesture on the part of the two exhausted nations. 

After the Russian revolution many solutions of the Rus- 
sian problem were attempted by friends and enemies of 
Russia. Numerous blunders were committed in these at- 
tempts at saving Russia—in fact, few blunders were left 
uncommitted. The Russians knew the new Russia just as 
little as the non-Russians did. The blunders that were 
made forced Russia into the arms of Germany, and helped 
to keep the Soviet government in power. 

An American friend, intimately familiar with the at- 
titude of Col. Edward M. House toward the Russian prob- 
lem, after the Revolution, during the war and at the peace 
Conference, said to me: 

“Colonel House is one of the very few statesmen who 
understood the Russian problem immediately after the 
Revolution, who advocated a sane course in the treatment 
of Russia, and who in 1917 and 1918 cautioned the Allied 
statesmen against the dangerous consequences of the mis- 
taken Russian policy pursued at that time. 

“Colonel House was asked by French and British states- 
men to agree to their policy of intervention, when he was 
in Paris. He told them at that time that the planned in- 
tervention would only help to keep the Soviet government 
in power. He was opposed to the French and British policy 
adopted toward Russia, and when he returned to the 
United States and presented his views on this subject, he 
was sustained by the President. 

“Some time afterward, while Colonel House was away 
in Europe again, various French and British commissions 


296 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


came to the United States and kept impressing President 
Wilson with the urgent need of intervention in Russia. 
It was then that the President finally agreed to the sending 
of troops to Archangel and to Siberia, with the sad result 
that everybody knows. 

“The policy of intervention by which the Allies sought 
to crush the bolshevist government of Russia, produced ex- 
actly the opposite effect. Various Russian emigrés and Al- 
lied statesmen tried to convince Colonel House—in order 
that he might influence the President—that all that was 
necessary was to raise the Allied flags in Russia, and the 
Russian people would rally to the anti-bolshevist forces and 
overthrow the Soviet government. Colonel House pointed 
out to them that their theories would only lead to greater 
confusion. 

“Some time later, after several attempts at intervention 
had failed, Allied statesmen endeavored to convince 
Colonel House again that intervention on a huge scale was 
essential, and that this time their plan was bound to prove 
successful. They were anxious to have him exert his in- 
fluence with the President in that direction. In answer to 
his question where they intended to get an army for such 
purpose, they assured him that they could raise an army 
of about two million men in Poland, Czecho-Slovakia and 
Yugo-Slavia, under the leadership of French officers, in or- 
der to invade Russia, His next question was, ‘But where 
will you get funds to finance this enterprise? Naturally 
they looked to the United States to supply the necessary 
money. Colonel House shattered their hopes by informing 
them that they could not get a nickel in the United States. 

“Colonel House’s plan to help Russia at that time was 
that the United States should do for Russia what it had 


GEORGE CHICHERIN 297 


done for Belgium, that Herbert Hoover should organize in 
Russia a system of relief upon a large scale, to aid the Rus- 
sian people, helping province after province, without the 
slightest interference with the internal affairs of Russia. 
The Russian people needed relief even then, and he be- 
lieved that first of all the Russian people who had just 
liberated themselves from the worst autocracy that had op- 
pressed them should be aided in their distress, and sec- 
ondly, he regarded it of the utmost importance that the 
world should know exactly what was going on in Russia. 

“All of the information which came from Russia, with 
but few exceptions, was based on propagandist materials 
sent broadcast by the Bolsheviki, painting rosy pictures of 
the blessings of the dictatorship of the proletariat, while 
the inspired Allied and Russian anti-bolshevist propaganda 
outside of Russia distorted the truth quite as much on the 
other side. 

“All that served to confuse the Russian situation in the 
minds of the people everywhere, and the solution grew ever 
more complicated and difficult. But the effect of it all 
was that Russia and Germany were forced into each other’s 
arms.” 


EDUARD BENES 


Prague, July, 1922. 


“Tr is a mistake to think that the reconstruction of Europe 
can come through the reconstruction of Russia. 

“The Genoa conference has shown it. The Hague con- 
ference now confirms it. 

“The trouble is that there has not yet been advanced any 
definite constructive program for the rebuilding of Europe. 
Genoa has proved it. The Hague confirms it. 

“Thirty-four nations came to the Genoa Conference with 
good intentions, but without any program. Even Lloyd 
George’s program—the only more or less definite plan— 
was inadequate. 

“My plan of the Little Entente was conceived for the 
purpose of establishing peace and friendship with our neigh- 
bors. After we have signed our treaties, nothing can hap- 
pen in Central Europe without us or against us. We are as 
strong as the ancient Austro-Hungarian empire ever was. 

“The main problem in Europe is not Russia but Germany. 

“There must be a complete political and economic agree- 
ment between Great Britain and France. Only that would 
bring peace and stability to Europe.” 

These striking statements were made to me in Prague by 
Dr. Eduard Benes, the Premier of Czecho-Slovakia, the 
foremost of Europe’s younger statesmen. 

Though Dr. Benes represented a new state—one of the 


smaller states of Europe—he was nevertheless one of the 
298 


EDUARD BENES 299 


most conspicuous and influential factors at the conference 
in which he participated. He is daring, picturesque, con- 
structive, practical. Even his enemies admit his courage 
and his genius. 

Benes, the father of the Little Entente—a sort of United 
States of Europe—believes in force—in the force of friend- 
ship united for peace. He realized that the strength of his 
country lay first in work and then in the good will and 
friendship of its neighbors. Czecho-Slovakia was sur- 
rounded by enemy states that had suffered economically 
and territorially because of the creation of this new state. 
It was surrounded by peoples that hated and envied the 
new state which started to work so industriously and which 
is making better progress than any of the new states and 
many of the older states in Europe. 

A patriot, a philosopher, a publicist of note, a worthy 
pupil of Professor Masaryk, Benes suddenly rose to the 
task and responsibility of true statesmanship, so sadly lack- 
ing in Europe just now—and his fame and influence are 
rapidly growing throughout Europe. 

Masaryk in Washington and Benes in Paris really created 
Czecho-Slovakia during the war and at the peace conference. 
Their eloquent pleas and their forceful arguments won to 
their cause the Allied statesmen, and particularly the deep 
sympathies of President Wilson and Colonel House. 
Czecho-Slovakia was created and set up as an important 
new state. 

The story of the 40,000 Czecho-Slovak “prisoners of 
war’ in Russia, whom the Russian Red Armies sought to 
disarm after the Brest-Litovsk treaty had been signed be- 
tween Germany and Russia, and who were going through 
Siberia to the Western Front to aid the Allies, was one of 


300 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


the great dramatic events of the world war. ‘The Czecho- 
Slovaks resisted the superior force of the Red Army, seized 
practically the whole of Siberia and became the masters of 
the situation along a line of about five thousand miles— 
from the Urals to Vladivostock. Their popularity with the 
Russian population of Siberia testified to the fact that 
they were not only courageous but also tactful and con- 
siderate as victors. They displayed extraordinary energy 
and genius for organization. 

Shortly after the creation of the new state the people of 
Czecho-Slovakia employed the same energy, perseverance 
and organization ability to put their country in order. 
Amidst the chaos, confusion and idleness in Europe, they 
started to work and build; they created new centers of 
learning and culture, and also gave shelter to thousands of 
students and hundreds of professors, who had been de- 
prived of the means of continuing their educational work 
in Soviet Russia. 

Czecho-Slovakia worked, prospered and has grown strong. 
And this was accomplished so quickly mainly through the 
efforts of Masaryk, that practical idealist and savant, the 
President of Czecho-Slovakia, beloved by the people of 
Czecho-Slovakia, known as their “dear little father,” and 
of Benes, the courageous young master builder of an empire 
of peace—of a united states of Europe. 

This young man of 38, Dr. Eduard Benes, has become 
the most interesting and dominating figure in the affairs of 
Central Europe. 

I sought his views regarding the questions that stir the 
minds of all who know the seriousness of Europe’s ailment 
and who strive to find a solution of the puzzling and per- 


EDUARD BENES 301 


plexing problems of the reconstruction of Europe. In the 
course of a long interview, Dr. Benes said: 

“As you are travelling through Europe, you see that 
Europe is in bad shape. Europe is going through a period 
of political, economic and intellectual decadence. 

“The World War was the worst in all history. More hu- 
man lives, more property, more values were destroyed than 
in any other war in the past. It is quite natural that a 
period of terrible decadence, unrest, confusion, and chaos 
should follow in the wake of this destruction. 

“But I am not pessimistic as to the outcome. It could 
hardly be expected that after such an enormous catastrophe, 
the reconstruction of Europe could come about in four 
years. Confidence and credits have been destroyed—the 
most vital things so essential for the restoration of normal 
international relations have been completely upset. 

“Four great empires were destroyed—Germany, Russia, 
Austro-Hungary and Turkey. Austro-Hungary was partly 
destroyed. Russia is practically destroyed and ruined, and 
Germany is also destroyed economically. 

“Out of the Austro-Hungarian empire new states have 
been formed. Ours is an entirely new state. We had to 
build everything, and we have built, and we are building. 
How far we have already succeeded may be judged from 
the fact that in 1920 we had an active export balance ex- 
ceeding our imports by three billions of crowns, and in 
1921 our exports exceeded our imports by five billions. 
No other country in Europe, with the exception of England, 
can point to such a record after the war. And our currency 
is stabilized. Our people are working hard, and as soon 
as there is a restoration to more normal conditions in our 


302 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


neighboring states, our own situation will naturally be still 
better. 

“Europe cannot be reconstructed through Russia. If 
other powers give money to Russia, that may help Russia 
to a certain extent, but it cannot help Europe for many 
years tocome. Mussia is unable to give anything to Europe 
for along time. It simply means that we would re-enforce 
the Bolsheviki. The Bolshevist theories and experiments 
have failed. Everybody knows it now. But the Soviet 
representatives cannot admit that much. They didn’t ad- 
mit it at Genoa, nor do they admit it at The Hague. They 
went as far as they could go, at Genoa. But the facts 
make their admissions unnecessary. 

“The Russian communists went forward too fast, and 
they must retreat rapidly in order to save themselves. So 
they had to resort to all sorts of compromises and methods 
of evolution for the purpose of going back. 

“It was a grotesque picture to see the Soviet representa- 
tives, after having criticized old Europe most sharply and 
having declared that it was doomed to utter destruction, 
asking that same old Europe for money in order that they 
may save themselves. In this way the Soviet régime ad- 
mitted its failure. The Bolsheviki had sentenced Europe 
and its capitalism to political and social death. They de- 
clared war on capitalism, they prophesied its immediate 
collapse, and now these fundamental enemies of capitalism 
ask the capitalists for help, for money. What a wonder- 
ful theme for satirical caricaturists! 

“The Rapallo Treaty between Russia and Germany is of 
no importance either to Russia or to Germany. Russia 
cannot give anything to Germany, and Germany in her 
present condition cannot do anything to aid Russia. 


EDUARD BENES 303 


“The trouble is that no definite, constructive program and 
no plan of method for the rehabilitation of Europe have as 
yet been advanced by any of the statesmen. 

“Thirty-four nations came to Genoa. They came with 
the best of intentions, with enthusiasm, with the desire for 
peace and for reconstruction, but without any program— 
without any plan or method of rebuilding Europe and re- 
storing normal conditions. 

“The only man who had some plan was Lloyd George. 
His plan was first to reconstruct Russia and through Russia 
the rest of Europe, and second, to have a pact for non- 
aggression signed by the nations. 

“That plan was not adequate. Europe may be able 
to help Russia, but Russia does nothing now to help 
Europe. And as for the non-aggression pact, it is really 
of no importance, for no nation wants any new wars 
now. 

“The intellectual life of Europe is in a state of almost 
complete collapse, too. In Vienna, for instance, there are 
22 chairs vacant at the universities because economic con- 
ditions and the inadequate remuneration make it impossible 
for professors to exist there. Intellectual intercourse is 
practically at a standstill in Europe. In Germany, for in- 
stance, very few scientific books can be published because 
it is too expensive to produce them, and only very few 
scientists can afford to buy books and periodicals in Europe 
nowadays. The governments are unable to give any sub- 
sidies for these things now. They must help first of all 
the unemployed in order to avert disturbances and check 
unrest, and they must help the crippled veterans of the 
war. 

“As for our own state, we first of all commenced by 


304 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


eradicating the war psychology in our country. That is 
really the first requisite of peace. 

““As a new state we were surrounded by enemies. Ger- 
many, Austria, Hungary, and Poland were our enemies 
when Czecho-Slovakia was set up as a state. 

“In the chaos, in the anarchy in Central Europe, un- 
chained by the war, we decided to build the spine—the 
backbone of a new organization, first on a basis of force, 
so that our neighbors should see that we were strong, that 
we were healthy, that we were working and building, that 
we settled down for peace; and then J knew they would 
realize that they could collaborate with us. We set out 
to establish a policy of friendship, first with Yugo-Slavia 
and Roumania. After our treaties with these countries 
were concluded, nothing could happen in Central Europe 
without us or against us. We became the center with which 
all other states in Central Europe were obliged to come into 
contact. It was easy then to negotiate with Austria. We 
were in position thus to prevent war with Hungary when 
Charles made two attempts to return as King. We were 
also able then to show Poland the insecurity and danger 
of her own position between Germany and Russia, and her 
advantages in joining the Little Entente. 

““We made economic treaties with Austria, Poland, Rou- 
mania, Yugo-Slavia, Italy, Spain, France, and even Russia. 
The results of our Russian treaty are of no particular sig- 
nificance or value as yet. 

“The rebuilding of Europe from the bottom up is neces- 
sarily a slow process, but after the destruction of four great 
empires, after the destruction of the achievements of many 
centuries, it is foolish to think that we can rebuild Europe 
in the short space of a few years. 


EDUARD BENES 308 


“We must be patient. We must be strong. We must 
be industrious and energetic. We must oppose all dema- 
gogy, all unreasonable nationalism and chauvinism. We 
must be practical. 

“In Austria, for instance, the question of reparations has 
so overwhelmed the people that they have lost all their 
courage, all desire to work, to grow rich. They have lost 
their energy, their nerve. They say, “What is the use of 
working, if we are actually working for others?’ With 
such ideas and in such a state of mind, Europe cannot be 
reconstructed. There is too much demagogy, too much of 
war psychology still prevailing in many countries of Europe. 

“I prefer to work hard and grow rich, and give part of 
my wealth to my neighbors rather than lie down in idleness 
and drift to utter ruination. 

“The main problem in Europe is not Russia but Germany. 
If Germany were helped toward readjustment, Europe 
would really be helping itself. If you give money to 
Russia, you cannot get anything in return for many years, 
and Europe cannot be helped that way. But if we find 
a plan for helping Germany, the effect on Europe would be 
immediate and helpful all around. 

“IT repeat, I believe in starting with the simple in order 
to have enough strength to cope with the more complex 
problems afterward. 

“The Russian problem will require many years to be 
solved. There will be chaos and anarchy there, but Rus- 
sia’s salvation will come from within, from the Russians in 
Russia. So many blunders have already been made by 
various statesmen that the wisest thing is to let the Russian 
experiment prove its failure completely and unmistakably. 
In the meantime democratic sentiment among the Russian 


306 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


people is gathering strength, and I foresee a strong repub- 
lican ‘Russia emerging out of the ruins. But that, it is 
obvious, cannot come suddenly. 

“If Russia were now recognized politically, she would 
become a political factor in the world, without being an 
economic factor in the reconstruction, on the contrary, the 
disorder and uncertainty would be intensified. The Bol- 
sheviki would gain in prestige and power, and the labor 
organizations everywhere may again be misled, and thus 
the unrest might grow everywhere. It would mean that we 
would give Russia a voice in political affairs, without any 
economic advantages to be gained from such a measure for 
any other country. 

“As for America’s attitude to Europe and to Russia in 
particular, I can easily understand her reserve and caution 
in European affairs now. But my opinion is that the 
United States have thus far refused to participate in the 
conference for the reconstruction of Europe mainly because 
no concrete, practical program has yet been submitted to 
them. 

“What can be done for the reconstruction of Europe? 
What are the preliminary steps which must be taken? 

“First of all, there must be a complete agreement between 
Great Britain and France. Italy would fall in line with 
such an agreement. ‘These powers must have a definite and 
reasonable economic and political understanding and agree- 
ment. ‘That would immediately serve to restore peace and 
stability in Europe. Without such an agreement there can 
be no reconstruction. | 

‘“‘When these powers agree among themselves, they will 
finally have to take the first step in the direction of a definite 
understanding with regard to reparations. When that 


EDUARD BENES 307 


question is definitely and reasonably settled, there would 
be a real basis for Germany to start along new economic 
lines. ‘That would also form a basis for an international 
loan, and the stabilization of the German currency, which 
would surely have an immediate and most beneficent effect 
everywhere and would hasten the re-establishment of peace 
and order in Europe.” 


STEPAN RADICZ 
Zagreb, Croatia, July, 1922. 


I went to Yugo-Slavia to familiarize myself with the 
blunder that was made there by the Peace Conference. It 
is a very serious blunder, for the population is in a state of 
intense unrest, and an explosion may occur there at any 
moment if precautionary measures are not taken in time to 
avert the new catastrophe where the World War was 
started. 

The trouble in Yugo-Slavia is due to the fact that one 
portion of the population is for a militarist state and the 
other for a republic. The Serbians are trying to establish a 
strong military Serbia under the name of Yugo-Slavia, 
while the Croatians and the Slovenians want a peaceful 
national existence as a republic. Though they speak the 
same language, their ideals and aspirations differ widely. 
They are divided by differences of religion and their history. 
The Serbians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, while 
the Croatians are Catholics. ‘The Serbians lived for cen- 
turies under the rule of the Turk; they had hardly any 
opportunity for cultural development, and they see their 
glory in a powerful military state; while the Croatians, 
though only oppressed, by Hungary, enjoyed a certain de- 
gree of autonomy and assimilated Western culture. 

After the lessons of the World War, the Croatians see 
their salvation and their opportunity for development under 


a republican form of government. Besides, there are about 
308 


STEPAN RADICZ 209 


three quarters of a million Croatians in the United States, 
and through them the influence of their Americanization is 
felt practically in every village of Croatia. The Croatian 
peasantry dream of a United States of Slavs—under a re- 
publican form of government. But if that is impossible, if 
the Serbians must have their king, the Croatians want a 
republic in Croatia, with Zagreb as its Capital, and they are 
willing to be associated with the Serbian kingdom upon 
terms of friendship and equality. | 

The Serbians, flushed with victory and eager for a greater 
Serbia, are imposing their will upon the rest of the popula- 
tion by force of arms. Hence the grave danger of a new 
explosion, of a new war. | 

I discussed the Yugo-Slav blunder with various leaders 
and J talked with the peasants in the Croatian villages. 
There is no doubt that their movement for liberty is strong 
and genuine. Fortunately, the leaders of the peasants are 
level-headed men, with a profound sense of responsibility. 
They are courageous, they are conscious of their power, but 
they are not firebrands. 

The most picturesque, influential and popular leader in 
Croatia is Stepan Radicz. <A publicist of note, a philoso- 
pher, he is the idol of the Croatian peasants who constitute 
the vast majority of the population. The Serbians regard 
him as their most dangerous enemy—they call him a rebel 
—and they kept him in prison for almost two years. The 
Croatian peasants regard him as a martyr. They call him 
their President. They love him as their friend and their 
teacher. Seventeen times he was thrown into prison by 
the Austro-Hungarian authorities for championing the 
cause of the people’s independence, and after the World 
War he was imprisoned for 21 months by the Siberian Gov- 


310 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ernment for a speech he made, advocating a republic for 
Croatia. 

Stepan Radicz is not a revolutionist, as the Serbians call 
him. He is religious, though not a fanatic. He believes 
in progress, but he is not an advocate of violence. He isa 
real responsible leader of the people and he is inspired by 
a real sense of justice. He is a brilliant orator and a vig- 
orous writer. He knows how to talk to the peasants in 
terms they best understand. His appearance in any village 
in Croatia is hailed with enthusiasm and joy. The peas- 
ants’ homes are ornamented with his pictures. I travelled 
with Radicz through a number of villages in order to speak 
to the peasants themselves. Before going to the villages, 
Radicz wanted me to see the cemetery at Zagreb. He 
showed me the monuments erected years ago to Croatian 
poets, scientists, philosophers, martyrs—champions of just- 
tice and liberty. He said: “Before you see our people 
in the villages, you must see that our nation always honored 
our intellectual leaders rather than our military heroes.”’ 

Then we went from village to village and talked with the 
people. Wherever we came the peasants dropped their 
work and greeted their “‘president.”” The children and the 
women in the villages greeted him with exclamations, “Long 
live the Republic!” The men complained of the high taxes 
imposed on them by the Serbian Government to maintain 
a huge army. ‘They all said they wanted a republic, in 
order to be able to work in peace. 

Stepan Radicz spoke to them. His speeches were brief 
and eloquent. He advocated liberty, but he always begged 
them to be patient and not to launch on any rash adventures. 

During our trip through the villages Stepan Radicz out- 
lined to me the aspirations of his people, the cause of unrest, 


STEPAN RADICZ 311 


and his fears of an explosion which may lead to a new 
catastrophe. 

He said: “Those who have learned something from the 
war are the victors. Those who have learned nothing from 
the war are the losers, whether they are among the Allies 
or the Central Powers. Our people saw that the Tsar of 
Russia, the Kaiser of Germany and the Kaiser of Austro- 
Hungary had been overthrown. They saw that republican- 
ism was the order of the day. Our simple people reasoned 
simply. They said that since the big monarchies were 
ended, it would be unwise to start smaller monarchies now. 
My own teacher, Professor Masaryk, made a grave mistake 
when he told the Allied statesmen that the Serbians were 
the most important factor in Yugo-Slavia, and that the 
Croatians were slaves, and that a union of these peoples 
under the leadership of Serbia was the best way of solving 
the problem. Thus a monarchy was forced upon us. Our 
people were not consulted. There was no plebiscite of any 
kind. 

‘“‘A week before the armistice, on October 29, 1918, we 
Croatians proclaimed our independence. A month later the 
Constituent Assembly for Yugo-Slavia met. It was domi- 
nated by Serbia. One thing had been decided in advance 
—that all must recognize the monarchy—the dynasty. 
That was an insult to our intelligence and also to our spirit 
of democracy. 

“Our people, the Croatians, the most cultured of the 
entire Yugo-Slav group, see and feel how the Serbians are 
forcing the monarchy and terrorist rule upon us by violence 
—by force of bayonets. The Serbians say that Serbia is 
surrounded by enemies, that seven nations are their enemies, 
and therefore a large standing army is absolutely essential. 


212 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


Our people say, ‘If all your neighbors are your enemies, 
you must be at fault.’ Our people say that pigs do not 
grow on bayonets, that armies do not build a country, that 
peace and work are the only roads to prosperity. They are 
perplexed, because the Serbians who have learned nothing 
from the war have been made the masters in Yugo-Slavia. 

“We Croatians received the majority of votes in our 
territory, but our views were not consulted and our wishes 
were not honored. The King is Serbian, the entire govern- 
ment is Serbian. -We have a higher culture than the Ser- 
bians, who were for centuries oppressed by the Turk. They 
acquired some of the savage methods of their oppressors, 
and are now imposing a tyranny upon us even as it was 
imposed upon them by the Turk. Our peasants are perse- 
cuted for expressing opinions favoring a republic. We, 
the intellectuals, holding these views, were also thrown into 
prison, but we were liberated, while the peasants are still 
being persecuted, and herein lies the real tragedy. Our 
peasants see that the common people are handled uncere- 
moniously, while the leaders are treated with consideration. 
Leaders, even revolutionary leaders, are ready to compro- 
mise when they find themselves in an awkward predica- 
ment. ‘They sometimes even stoop to corruption. Not so 
the people. They want no compromises. They say, ‘We 
are working hard, we are prosperous because of our work. 
The Serbians are concentrating all their energies on the 
army, on violence. We want democracy, freedom, while 
they want a monarchy, oppression. We cannot and will 
not bear their burdens!’ 

“We, the leaders, know that we have both the force and 
the ability to impose our will—the will of the people—on 
the government. But we have a higher sense of duty. We 


STEPAN RADICZ 313 


know where we would start, but we do not know where we 
would end. We cannot tell what temptations other govern- 
ments may develop when they see civil war in our country. 

“Politics, like business, must have a certain measure of 
idealism—otherwise it cannot succeed. We must think not 
only of the present but also of the future. A business man 
who thinks of the future must necessarily possess a certain 
degree of idealism, honesty and morality. These qualities 
are entirely lacking in the Yugo-Slav administration. 

“T was kept 21 months in prison by the Serbian govern- 
ment. For eleven months not a soul was permitted to see 
me. My family was not sure that I was alive. I was 1m- 
prisoned for a speech in which I said, “Long live the King 
—in Serbia—not in Croatia. Our people want freedom— 
a republic?” 

“At the end of 21 months, on election day, when it be- 
came apparent that I would get an enormous majority of 
the votes, I was pardoned by the King. I was asked 
whether there was anything I wanted. I said ‘I want noth- 
ing for myself. JI am fifty years old now—TI need much 
less now than when I was twenty. I want nothing for my- 
self. But I want freedom for my people. If you want my 

views on this subject I shall gladly give them to you. You 
are spending millions on an army. You have a bigger army 
than Great Britain has. You have an army three times 
as large as that of the United States. You have more than 
three times as many gendarmes as the empire of Austro- 
Hungary had. You are spending the greater part of the 
budget to maintain an organization of force and violence, 
and there is hardly anything left for schools and other con- 
structive measures. ‘This strength of yours is your greatest 
weakness. As for the King, I have nothing against him as 


314 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


a man, nor have I anything against him as a King, if the 
Serbians want him. But my people want a republic. We 
are willing to recognize and honor him in every way—we 
are even willing to be associated with the Serbian state, but 
equally as a federated state.’ 

“The state as constituted in Yugo-Slavia to-day not only 
fails to solve the oriental problem, but it aggravates it, and 
there will be no real peace here until this situation is ad- 
justed through the moral pressure of the Great Powers who 
desire peace in Europe.” 

The vice-president of the Croatian Peasants’ Party said: 

“Serbia has an army of 200,000 men. She has a huge 
number of gendarmes, and then she has the Wrangel army 
of more than a hundred thousand reactionary Russians. 
The Serbian government has started out with a wrong for- 
mula—raw centralization of violence. They want to erect 
a great Serbian state by destroying the Croatian people—a 
historic, cultural and economic unit which had its own in- 
dependent state thirteen centuries ago. Therefore, since 
the Serbians constitute only four millions of the population 
of Yugo-Slavia, and the other nations together constitute 
more than eight millions, the Serbians had to create a wild 
military state. In Dalmatia and Bosnia the Wrangel gen- 
darmes are flogging the people and plundering them. 
Serbian troops are doing that, too. 

“Besides, the government is organizing so-called patri- 
otic bands, maintained on government funds, instructed by 
Serbian officers. They are supplied with firearms, and are 
used for the purpose of intimidating the people by methods 
of terrorism. Serbian chauvinism is rabid now. Exper- 
ienced and capable Croatian officials are dismissed from 
government posts, and replaced by incompetent and dis- 


STEPAN RADICZ 315 


honest Serbs. The worst forms of corruption and graft 
are practiced openly. The security of the rights of person 
and property is destroyed by the militarist régime of Bel- 
grade. Even religion is employed for political purposes. 
Many Greek Catholics are forced to join the Greek Or- 
thodox Church. They think they can build a greater Serbia 
in that way. 

“Corporal punishment has been introduced. Thousands 
of people have been beaten with sticks for no other reason 
that they said they were in favor of a republic. Many 
villages have been destroyed and thousands of people killed 
in Bosnia and Sandjak, as so-called enemies of the State.” 

Professor Shurmin, editor of the Zagreb Obzor, for 16 
years a representative of the Croatian people, and a former 
member of the Cabinet, said: 

“Croatia, as the most cultured of the nations in Yugo- 
Slavia, was always Western in culture and education. 
During the World War Croatia was heart and soul against 
Prussianism, because Prussianism always helped to oppress 
the Slavs. 

“We are not opposed to the Serbs. They have the same 
language we have, though not the same culture. But we 
are opposed to the government that resorts to violence to de- 
stroy us as anation. We are in favor of finding a way for 
co-operation. We are willing to remain together with 
them, but as equals. Our people are republican in spirit. 
Let the people, through the plebiscite, decide the form of 
government, and form of union to be established. ‘Then 
peace will prevail in our country. We cannot submit to 
an oriental, Asiatic rule now. We always gravitated 
to Western ideals, and we cannot start on the dangerous 
road of militarism now that we see so clearly what has hap- 


316 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


pened to the great military autocracies of Russia, Germany 
and Austro-Hungary.”’ 

The opening paragraph of the Constitution of the Neu- 
tral Peasant Republic of Croatia, adopted in March, 1921, 
reads in part as follows: | 

‘““We Croatians, as a nation of a very old peasant culture, 
have by the inevitable course of events of the World War 
been delivered from the oppressive aristocratic feudal 
Magyar centralism, and from the German militarist sover- 
eignty of the Hapsburg monarchy. 

““. . . Aware of all these factors in the emancipation 
of the country and in unison with the conservative West, 
we are preserving the foundations of civilization and of 
the production of wealth, and with the revolutionary East, 
we are simultaneously creating a State in which all cultural 
as well as wealth-producing elements, but particularly the 
peasant and working classes, shall have their fullest share 
in all branches of government and administration. . . .” 

As we travelled through the villages, I met many Croa- 
tians who had been in America and who returned to their 
native land after the war. They had worked in American 
shops and factories, and brought the spirit of America to 
their native villages. Most of them were disillusioned. 
They had hurried back in the hope of finding liberty in their 
old home. I saw several homes decorated with American 
flags. 

One of these peasants who had only recently returned 
from the United States said: 

“T was in America about fifteen years. J have come back 
to my native country thinking that it was free now. I 
learned to work in America, and this makes me rich here. 


STEPAN RADICZ 317 


But we are not free, and that makes me unhappy. I can’t 
get used to this life.” 

A woman who came from America to her native village 
said: 

“T love America because it is a republic. And I love a 
republic because I love my children. I don’t want to lose 
them in the next war, and J don’t think republics will have 
any more wars after this dreadful war we had.” 

As we rode through the villages we saw the fertile soil 
of Croatia. We saw the peasants at work. We saw their 
hospitality. We heard their folk songs and watched the 
national dances of the girls and young men after the day’s 
work was done. 

Late in the evening, on the way back to Zagreb, our auto- 
mobile broke down. We waited all night in the fields. It 
was cold and dark, and a distance from a village. 

The sun rose at about three o’clock. Shortly afterward 
we saw here and there young men and women coming out to 
the fields, beginning their new day’s work. At first they 
were silent, and then we heard them singing as they worked. 

At about five o’clock in the morning we found a pair of 
horses and a hay wagon and rode back to Zagreb, the capital 
of Croatia, fatigued but profoundly impressed with the 
industrious and picturesque little peasant nation that wants 
liberty and peace. 


ARTHUR SCHNITZLER 
Vienna, July, 1922. 


I'met Arthur Schnitzler in his study in Vienna. A fine 
copy of Mona Lisa was conspicuous among the numerous 
portraits on the walls, and on his desk stood a statuette of 
Goethe. The brilliant Viennese dramatist and novelist, 
whose sixtieth birthday was recently celebrated by his 
friends and admirers, is youthful despite the gray in his 
hair and beard, and his kindly smile is as full of charm as 
ever. During the past few months many eulogies by the 
foremost dramatists, novelists and critics appeared in var- 
ious European periodicals and newspapers. 

Schnitzler is beloved by all who know him. All agree 
that his artistic works are marked with a peculiar charm and 
are of lasting value. He has portrayed men and women as 
they really are—with their dreams and their passions, their 
foibles and their follies. 

Gerhardt Hauptmann, summing up the achievements of 
Schnitzler thus far, writes that to have an appreciation of 
Schnitzler is to have an appreciation of art and culture. 
Hermann Bahr predicts that Schnitzler will fare better than 
other writers a hundred years hence, for when future gen- 
erations will want to study the traits, the modes of life and 
thought during the years of Austria’s sunset, they will have 
to go back to Schnitzler who mirrored that sunset most 


clearly, who reproduced as no one else the last charm of 
318 


ARTHUR: SCHNITZLER 319 


Vienna in the shadows, who was the doctor at her death bed, 
who loved her more deeply than anyone else, who was the 
last poet of her agony. 

Schnitzler spoke with deep emotion of Austria’s pathetic 
plight, of the beauty and grandeur of her landscapes and of 
her still undeveloped opportunities, of the curse of too much 
politics in Austria, and for that matter in the whole of 
Europe, and then he pointed to the growth of prejudice and 
hate after the war. 

“What is becoming of Europe?” he said. “The hate 
which has been intensified by the war is growing and spread- 
ing, and the most dreadful feature of it all is that people 
are talking of new wars in the near future. 

“On August 1, 1914,—on the day of the declaration of 
war—lI wrote a letter to my brother of which I should have 
been ashamed a little later. I gave him my reasons why 
it was impossible that such a world war could take place. 
It was a foolish letter in view of the events that followed 
so rapidly, and that involved practically the whole world 
in the war. But only now—after several years of so-called 
peace, we see clearly that the war was really impossible. 
It was the most brutal of all wars. It destroyed more 
values than any previous war, and it has left the world in 
a much worse condition than it was before the war. We 
see chaos, poverty, ruination everywhere in Europe. And 
we see more hate than before the war. 

“To check this spread of hate in various countries, it 
seems to me that it is urgent for intellectual leaders every- 
where to create good will and a better understanding among 
the nations. A great campaign of education is essential in 
that direction. We have seen that Socialism has failed to 
meet the problems of war and peace effectively and has not 


320 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


exerted such an influence either in the war or in the making 
of peace. 

“We must realize, first of all, that man is the worst of 
all animals—the most cruel of them all. The difference 
between the human being and other animals is that the 
human being possesses such traits as joy at another’s mis- 
fortune, and false indignation. Animals have no such 
terrible traits. We must also realize that while the human 
mind may be improved by education, the human soul can- 
not be improved—for it cannot be changed. We may 
therefore hope that human beings will some day become 
wiser, but they cannot become better. The mind may be 
improved, but not the soul. Human beings are born 
egotists. They do not love one another unselfishly—they 
hate one another. All we may hope is that the intellectual 
leaders may succeed in showing the people that they must 
stop wars because it would be best for them to have no wars 
—because they would benefit more from peace than from 
war. 

“Pacifism should not be sentimental. ‘That is useless. 
Pacifists should not say that it is wrong to kill, that it 1s 
unethical to destroy human life—that it is immoral to com- 
mit such a crime—that other people suffer from such 
destruction—and that war is terrible on that account. 
Everybody knows that war is terrible, that it leaves dead 
and maimed in its wake—that it destroys property, and re- 
tards what is known as civilization. But such methods of 
reasoning, such arguments are of no avail. Human beings 
are not impressed by them. Human beings do not change 
their nature on that account. Instead of sentimental paci- 
fism, it is essential to convince them by education that peace 
would benefit them and save them—that in a roundabout 


ARTHUR SCHNITZLER QE 


way they themselves or their children may be the victims of 
war—the wounded, the mutilated, the dead. 

“It is of very little value to preach love and the brother- 
hood of man, for it does not help. There are some people 
who believe that it is enough for them to preach or to lis- 
ten to sermons on loving one’s neighbor as themselves—and 
that by this they have already discharged all their duties 
to their fellow men. The quality of unselfish love is not 
inherent in human beings—and it is useless to demand of 
human beings to change that which cannot be changed. 
Besides, it is not necessary at all. I do not want people to 
love me. Ido not want their kisses. I don’t think it nec- 
essary that there should be too much love among the nations. 
The important thing is that people should realize that they 
must not wrong one another—that they must not hurt or 
injure one another. The important thing is that people 
should have the opportunity to work, undisturbed, in peace, 
that they should not interfere with others, that they should 
not destroy others, that they should not rob others. They 
must learn to realize that war will affect them directly in 
some way or other just as they believe war would affect 
their enemy—their neighbor. 

“Yesterday, while my daughter was packing to go to the 
country, we found a batch of old newspapers published dur- 
ing the war. I looked at the headlines. “The battle 
of We captured 50,000 men. Tens of thousands 
slain.’ And the jubilation over each victory! I remember 
how our people rejoiced when they heard that thousands of 
Russians were drowned in swamps. I was filled with terror 
as I recalled all this. Of course, the other side did exactly 
the same. They rejoiced when hundreds of thousands of 
our people were slaughtered. And [I recalled with horror 


ei) THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


the indifference with which people afterward read about 
those battles. When, for instance, they read that fifty 
thousand men had been slain, and on the following morning 
the revised figures showed that instead of fifty thousand 
there really were sixty thousand casualties, did that differ- 
ence disturb the people’s sleep, or did it affect their ap- 
petites? Not inthe least. They went on eating, drinking 
and smoking their cigars. ‘In fact, the men at the front 
hated the ‘enemy’ less than the people in the rear—we know 
that at the front the men often fraternized with the ‘enemy,’ 
while the people in the rear hated the ‘enemy’ intensely— 
and this hate is continuing. And in certain places it is even 
encouraged deliberately—fanned and spread artificially. 

“If we read about some distant island sinking into the 
ocean with a population of a half a million human beings 
we would actually be affected by such news much less than 
by the natural death of someone on our block. If a fire 
breaks out in our neighbor’s house, we are upset and worried 
to the extent that we fear lest the fire should spread to our 
own house. If a fire breaks out somewhere in our city, we 
are worried because it may destroy the house of one of our 
relatives or friends. If we hear of a fire in a distant part of 
our city where we have no relatives or friends, we go on 
smoking our cigars undisturbed. 

“T recall a simple, quite unimportant incident, but it is 
so characteristic that I will tell it to you. Some years ago 
my wife had scarlet fever. We had a nurse who attended 
her. The nurse was very correct, devoted, efficient and in- 
telligent. When my wife recovered and the nurse was to 
leave, she had to wait about a quarter of an hour for an am- 
bulance which was to fumigate her clothes in order that she 
may not infect other people. 


ARTHUR SCHNITZLER 323 


“When I went out of the house a few minutes later, I 
noticed to my great amazement that the nurse entered a 
crowded street car, without having waited for the am- 
bulance. She had no patience to wait fifteen minutes, and 
she went home by car without having taken the necessary 
precaution. She probably infected a number of people in 
that car with scarlet fever. Here was a nurse who knew 
well the dangers of such contagion. She was intelligent 
and it was her profession to look after patients, and to be 
careful. But that did not matter to her. She went into 
the crowded street car because the passengers were just 
ordinary people whom she did not know. They were 
strangers to her, and she did not care. But if, for instance, 
she were to learn that someone was infected in that car by 
her, and that such person carried the disease to a child who 
happened to be a schoolmate of her own child, and in that 
way infected her own child—and her own child died as a 
result of her recklessness and neglect then she would think 
and act differently in the future. Of course, if such a thing 
happened, people would say that it was an unusual case, 
a rare coincidence. But if people were to figure things out 
logically they would find that the wrong they do others in 
some way or other necessarily reacts on themselves—they 
would understand that, and would stop wronging others. 
As I have said before, human beings may become wiser, but 
they will never grow better. It is therefore the important 
task of intellectual leaders everywhere to organize them- 
selves and start a campaign to enlighten the people that 
peace is in their own interests—that war will ruin them, 
while peace will benefit them.” 

“Why don’t you develop this idea more elaborately in an 
article?” I suggested. 


324. THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


“T can’t write articles,” replied Dr. Schnitzler. “TI have 
often been asked to write articles for the Neue Free Presse. 
I have often discussed certain subjects with the publisher 
and editor of that newspaper, and he often said tome: ‘Let 
me have an article on this subject. This is just what I 
need.’ JI have always declined to write articles. I often 
wonder why journalists and publicists underestimate their 
own ability to write articles and believe that novelists or 
dramatists must necessarily know how to write articles.”’ 

“But in this instance you have advanced the best reasons 
why you should write something on this theme, particularly 
when you pointed out that the intellectual leaders should 
at this juncture do the utmost to make people realize the 
effects of war and peace on themselves,” I said. 

“T am afraid you would be disappointed if I wrote an 
article on this subject. J really could not do it,” he replied. 

Our conversation turned to Schnitzler’s dramatic works. 
Suddenly he asked: 

“How would you account for the fact that some of my 
plays which were written 20 or 25 years ago are being pro- 
duced only now? ‘They seem to attract more attention 
now than when I wrote them.” 

“Your works were at least a quarter of a century ahead 
of their time,” I answered. “Only now people are be- 
ginning to understand and appreciate them fully.” 

When I mentioned “Reigen,” his sex play which created 
a sensation last year in Berlin and Vienna and which was at 
first suppressed by the German censor, Schnitzler remarked 
modestly: ‘“Reigen’ is an ordinary play. The dialogues 
were written more than twenty five years ago. When this 
play of mine will long have been forgotten, the record of 
the Berlin trial connected with ‘Reigen’ will live. The 


ARTHUR SCHNITZLER BOS 


stenographic report of the testimony at that trial is the most 
amazing satire of our time. The four or five figures that 
revealed themselves in that extraordinary document are 
types of hypocrisy that the greatest of satirists could hardly 
have invented or improved upon.” 


ROOSEVELT LETTERS 


In the course of one of my interviews with Count Witte 
in 1908 in Petrograd I asked him to permit me to examine 
the more important documents relating to the Portsmouth 
Peace Treaty, in which Theodore Roosevelt played so con- 
spicuous a role. Count Witte took out a large portfolio 
from his desk and said: 

“There are only two sets of these documents in existence. 
This is the original, and the Tsar has the copy. The time 
has not yet arrived to publish these documents.” 

He hesitated a while, then added: 

“T have another appointment now which will take about 
an hour. If you like, you may go into my library with 
these documents and examine them. You are at liberty 
to use any of the documents you can copy during this hour. 
But do not mention that you received them from me.” 

I examined the documents for half an hour, and then 
copied for half an hour. Among the various reports I found 
unpublished cablegrams which President Roosevelt had sent 
during the Portsmouth Peace Conference direct to the Tsar, 
through American Ambassador Meyer. I knew that these 
cablegrams, which threw a most interesting light on Roose- 
velt as peacemaker, had not been made public in America, 
and later I learned that Roosevelt had sent them to the 
Tsar without the knowledge of Count Witte, Russia’s chief 
plenipotentiary at the Portsmouth Conference. So I se- 


lected these documents for reproduction. Exactly at the 
326 


ROOSEVELT LETTERS Boe 


end of the hour, the huge figure of Count Witte appeared 
in the doorway of the library. 

“Now I am interested to see what you have chosen,’’ he 
said, smiling. 

I pointed to the Roosevelt cablegrams. 

“IT must compliment you. You have selected the most 
interesting of all these documents,” he remarked. ‘“‘Roose- 
velt did not know that the Tsar transmitted the cable- 
grams to me.” 

I brought these documents back with me to America and 
published them in The New York Times. 

Some time afterward, when Roosevelt became the con- 
tributing editor of The Outlook, he asked me how I had 
secured his cablegrams. I told him that while I was not 
at liberty to divulge the name of the man from whom I 
had secured the copies, I was absolutely certain that they 
were authentic, and therefore I published them. 

He smiled broadly and said: 

“They are authentic, but I am curious to know who gave 
them to you. The only reason I am sorry you published 
them is that I intended to publish them first in my auto- 
biography.” | 

The following is President Roosevelt’s First Cablegram 
to Ambassador Meyer, August 9, 1905: 


“Please see his Majesty personally immediately and de- 
liver the following message from me: 

“T earnestly ask your Majesty to believe that in what I 
am about to say and to advise I speak as the earnest friend 
of Russia and give you the advice I should give if I were 
a Russian patriot and statesman. ‘The Japanese have, as 
I understand it, abandoned their demands for the interned 


328 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ships and the limitation of the Russian naval power in the 
Pacific, which conditions I felt were improper for Russia to 
yield to. Moreover, I find out to my surprise and pleasure 
that the Japanese are willing to restore the north half of 
Saghalien to Russia, Russia, of course, in such case to pay 
a substantial sum for this surrender of territory by the 
Japanese and for the return of Russian prisoners. 

“Tt seems to me that if peace can be obtained substan- 
tially on these terms, it will be both just and honorable, 
and that it would be a dreadful calamity to have the war 
continued when peace can thus be obtained. 

“Of the twelve points which the plenipotentiaries have 
been discussing, on eight they have come to a substantial 
agreement. Two, which were offensive to Russia, the 
Japanese will, as I understand it, withdraw. The remain- 
ing two can be met by agreement in principle that the 
Japanese shall restore or retrocede to Russia the north half 
of Sakhaline, while Russia of course, pays an adequate sum 
for this retrocession and for Russian prisoners. If this 
agreement can be made the question as to the exact amount 
can be a subject of negotiation. 

“Let me repeat how earnestly I feel that it is for Russia’s 
interests to conclude peace on substantially these terms. 
No one can foretell the continuance of war, and I have no 
doubt that it is to Japan’s advantage to conclude peace. 
But in my judgment it is infinitely more to the advantage 
of Russia. If peace is not made now, and war is continued, 
it may well be that, though the financial strain upon Japan 
would be severe, yet in the end Russia would be shorn of 
those East Siberian provinces which have been won for her 
by the heroism of her sons during the last three centuries. 
The proposed peace leaves the ancient boundaries absolutely 


ROOSEVELT LETTERS 320 


intact. The only change in territory will be that Japan 
will recover that part of Saghalien which was hers up to 
thirty years ago. As Saghalien is an island, it is, humanly 
speaking, impossible that the Russians should reconquer it, 
in view of the disaster to their navy, and to keep the north 
half of it as a guarantee for the security of Vladivostok 
and Eastern Siberia for Russia. 

“It seems to me that every consideration of national self- 
interest, of military expediency, and of broad humanity, 
makes it eminently wise and just for Russia to conclude 
peace substantially along these lines, and it is my hope 
and prayer that your Majesty may take this. 

“THEODORE ROOSEVELT.” 


President Roosevelt’s Second Cablegram to Ambassador 
Meyer, August 13, 1905: 


“My second cable was forwarded after the arrival of 
your first. Japan has now on deposit in the United States 
about 50,000 of the last war loan. Please tell His Majesty 
that I dislike intruding my advice on him again, but for 
fear of misapprehension J venture again to have these state- 
ments made to him. 

“T, of course, would not have him act against his con- 
science, but I earnestly hope his conscience will guide him 
so as to prevent the continuance of war, when this con- 
tinuance may involve Russia in a greater calamity than has 
ever befallen it since it first rose to power in both Europe 
and Asia. 

“TI see it publicly anounced to-day by the Minister for 
Foreign Affairs that Russia will neither pay money nor 
surrender territory. I beg His Majesty to consider that 


330 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


such an announcement means absolutely nothing when 
Sakhaline is already in the hands of Japanese. If on such 
theory the war is persevered in, no one can foretell the re- 
sult, but the merged representatives of the Powers most 
friendly to Russia assure me that the continuance of the 
war will probably mean the loss not merely of Sakhaline, 
but of Eastern Siberia, and if after a year of struggle this 
proves true, then any peace which came could only come 
on terms which would indicate a real calamity. 

“Most certainly I think it will be a bad thing for Japan 
to go on with the war, but I think it will be a far worse 
thing for Russia. There is now a fair chance of getting 
peace on honorable terms, and it seems to me that it will be 
a dreadful thing for Russia and the civilized world if the 
chance is thrown away. My advices are that the plenipo- 
tentiaries at Portsmouth have come to a substantial agree- 
ment on every point except the money question and the 
question of Sakhaline. 

“Let it now be announced that as regards these two points 
peace shall be made on the basis of the retrocession of thé 
north half of Sakhaline to Russia on payment of a sum of 
redemption of money by Russia, the amount of this redemp- 
tion of money and the amount to be paid for the Russian 
prisoners to be settled by further negotiations. This does 
not commit the Russian Government as to what sum shall 
be paid, leaving it open to further negotiation. 

“If it is impossible for Russia and Japan to come to an 
agreement on this sum, they might possibly call in the ad- 
vice of, say, some high French or German official appointed 
by or with the consent of Russia and some English official 
appointed by or with the consent of Japan, and have these 
later then report to the negotiators, This, it seems to me, 


ROOSEVELT LETTERS 331 


would be an entirely honorable way of settling the diffi- 
culty. I cannot, of course, guarantee that Japan will agree 
to this proposal, but if His Majesty agrees to it I will en- 
deavor to get the Japanese Government to do likewise. 

“T earnestly hope that this cable of mine can receive His 
Majesty’s attention before the envoys meet to-morrow, and 
I cannot too strongly say that I feel that peace now may 
prevent untold calamities in the future. Let me repeat 
that in this proposal I suggest that neither Russia nor 
Japan do anything but face accomplished facts, and that 
I do not specify or attempt to specify the amount to be 
paid as redemption money for the north half of Sakhaline 
to be settled by further negotiation. I fear that if these 
terms are rejected it may not be possible that Japan will 
give up the idea of making peace or of ever getting money, 
and she will decide to take and to keep Sakhaline and Har- 
bin and the whole Siberian Manchurian Railway, and this, 
of course, would mean that she would take Eastern Siberia. 

“Such a loss to Russia would, in my judgment, be a dis- 
aster of portentous size, and J earnestly desire to save Rus- 
sia from such a risk. If peace is made on the terms I have 
mentioned, Russia is left at the end of this war substan- 
tially unharmed, the national honor and interest saved, and 
the result of what Russians have done in Asia since the 
days of Ivan the Terrible unimpaired. 

“But if peace is now rejected, and if Japan decides that 
it is better she will give up the idea of obtaining any re- 
demption money or any other sum, no matter how small, 
the military situation is such that there is at least a good 
chance, and on estimate of most outside observers a strong 
probability, that though Japan will have to make heavy 
sacrifices she will yet take Harbin, Vladivostok, and East- 


332 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


ern Siberia, and if this is once done the probabilities are 
overwhelming that she could never be dislodged. 

“T cannot too strongly state my conviction that while 
peace in accordance with the suggestions above outlined 
is earnestly to be desired, from the standpoint of the whole 
world and from the standpoint of both combatants, yet that, 
far above all, it is chiefly to Russia’s interest and perhaps 
to her vital interest that it should come in this way and 
at this time. 

“THEODORE RoosEvELt.” 


After interviewing Roosevelt at the request of Witte, 
in 1913, in regard to a report that was circulated abroad 
to the effect that Japan was really tottering at the time of 
the Portsmouth Peace Conference and that she had induced 
Roosevelt to assume the role of peacemaker, Roosevelt 
wrote me the following characteristic letter: 


February ro, 191}. 
“Dear Mr. Bernstein: 
“,. . . You could have added to the statement you made 
to Count Witte, that it was also a preposterous falsehood 
to assert that any representative of the Japanese Govern- 
ment had directly or indirectly asked me to forward the 
negotiations on the ground that Japan was getting exhausted 
and could not continue the war. 
“Faithfully yours, 
“THEODORE RoosEveELt.” 


In 1917 Theodore Roosevelt wrote the following intro- 
duction to my volume containing the “Willy Nicky Tele- 
grams,” the secret correspondence between the Kaiser and 


ROOSEVELT LETTERS 835 


the Tsar, which I had secured in Russia and which I made 
public throughout the world: 


Sagamore Hill, November 6th, 1917. 


“My dear Mr. Bernstein, 

“I congratulate you on the noteworthy service you have 
rendered by the discovery and publication of these letters. 
They illuminate, with a glare like a flashlight, the dark 
places of diplomacy of despots; they show what diplomacy 
in autocratic nations really is, and what it has done and 
sought to do, right up to the present time. The whole 
world ought now to understand that the despotism of Ger- 
many was one of plot and intrigue no less than of ruthless 
brutality and barbarism, and that with a cynically com- 
plete absence of all sense of international morality and good 
faith it sought to bend to its purpose of evil the poor feeble 
puppet who at the moment embodied’ the despotism of Rus- 
sia. These letters should be made familiar to all civilized 
peoples. 

“They show the folly of the men who would have us be- 
lieve that any permanent escape from anarchy in Russia 
can come from the re-establishment of the autocracy, which 
was itself the prime cause of that anarchy—for the gov- 
ernmental condition was so intolerable that they put a 
premium on the production of lawless violence in the ranks 
of the lovers of liberty and justice and fair play to all. 

“They show, furthermore, the wicked folly of all who 
would now treat with the German despotism for a negoti- 
ated peace, a peace without victory, a peace into which the 
wrong-doer and the wronged would enter on equal terms. 
This war was made by the militaristic and capitalistic 
autocracy of Germany, and it was acquiesced in and even 


334. THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


promoted by the German socialistic party, which thereby 
proved itself traitorous to the workingmen and farmers of 
the world. With these documents before them, no Amer- 
icans who hereafter directly or indirectly support the Prus- 
sianized Germany of the Hohenzollerns can claim to stand 
in good faith for human rights, for equal justice, and for 
the liberty of small well-behaved nations. 

“Let me repeat, my dear sir, that in publishing these 
letters you have rendered a signal service to this nation and 
‘to all mankind. 

“Very sincerely yours 
“THEODORE RoosEVELtT.” 


WOODROW WILSON 


Wooprow Witson was a great idealist, and as a great 
idealist he was disillusioned. His tragedy lay in the fact 
that he was so far ahead of his time. The future genera- 
tions of America will learn how to value the fine heritage 
of idealism he has bequeathed to the world. 

“Fifty years from now there will be more plays written 
about Woodrow Wilson than there have been about Na- 
poleon or any other distinguished personage in history. 
There is in his life a greater drama than Shakespeare ever 
pictured.” 

This statement, made several years ago by Alexander 
Moissi, the famous European actor, displayed a deep under- 
standing of the dramatic in the life of the greatest Amer- 
ican of our day, the supreme idealist who died this year, 
and who is destined to rank with Lincoln in the history of 
America. 

The dramatic rise of Woodrow Wilson to heights rarely 
before reached by a human being, and his disillusionment 
will be better estimated in the years to come, for the events 
are too close at present to be seen in their proper perspective. 

When Woodrow Wilson entered American political life, 
a new force made itself felt immediately, a great moral 
force with a passion for righteousness, for social justice, 
for a new freedom, for universal peace. Woodrow Wilson 
was a new type of American politician-statesman, strong 
and keen, determined to translate into life his lofty theories 
and humanitarian doctrines. But he was not a mere 

335 


336 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


dreamer. His idealism and his dreams had a practical 
basis. He looked farther into the future than most of his 
contemporaries, and his tragedy lay in the fact that he 
was far ahead of his time—and therefore he was so often 
misunderstood. 

During the World War, Wilson grew into the most im- 
portant world figure, not only as the President of the great- 
est, richest and most powerful republic, but as the voice of 
mankind. His utterances carried a new hope to the world. 
It was as though in the madhouse of slaughter in Europe 
there suddenly appeared the conscience of a great young 
people—the aroused conscience of America—and President 
Wilson’s simplest words, his finely-woven phrases embody- 
ing lofty ideals, sounded like a new gospel preached from 
Sinai. His formula of “self-determination of nations,” 
though borrowed from the Russian radicals, thrilled the 
oppressed peoples everywhere with new hopes and filled 
them with yearnings for national self-expression. His ad- 
vocacy of the League of Nations throbbed with sincerity, 
with almost naive simplicity and with deep faith. 

Out of the turmoil of combat, amid bloodshed and tears, 
above the din of cannon, came his ringing words that 
sounded like a new Sermon on the Mount, a new Ten 
Commandments. And the people, clamoring for a ray of 
hope, trusted Wilson’s ideals implicitly. | 

I do not know whether the following anecdote is true or 
not. It is said that Clemenceau once asked President Wil- 
son lightly: “Why do you insist upon your Fourteen 
Points when Moses gave only Ten Commandments to the 
world?’ To this Mr. Wilson is said to have re- 
pled: “If you will guarantee that we can carry out the 
Ten Commandments at the Peace Conference I would be 


WOODROW WILSON 337 


only too willing to give up my Fourteen Points.” This 
story may be a legend, but it is characteristic that such 
legends have grown up around the personality of Woodrow 
Wilson. 

He came to Europe as the great peacemaker. The peo- 
ple, particularly the oppressed nations, saw in him one of 
the world’s greatest prophets—the embodiment of their 
hope and their salvation. The people worshipped him in 
Italy, in Belgium, in Czecho-Slovakia; they lighted ikons 
for him even in distant Siberia, and the defeated peoples 
saw in him their redeemer. His tour through Europe 
called forth a spontaneous ovation such as no king or re- 
ligious leader ever received. 

The statesmen and politicians of the victorious nations 
feared and respected him. ‘They knew the energy, enter- 
prise and determination of America—the great young giant 
across the seas, and they feared Wilson as the head of that 
giant. They dared not oppose him, even when they 
shrugged their shoulders at his excessive idealism. Dur- 
ing the war they realized the effect of his sermons to hu- 
manity, they knew that those sermons were breaking down 
the morale of the Central Powers because the people every- 
where believed him, and the Allied statesmen tried to con- 
vey the impression that they agreed with him by maintain- 
ing silence. 

There is one definite, concrete service which Woodrow 
Wilson rendered to the world and which will be remem- 
bered after most of the statesmen of to-day have passed 
away and are forgotten. It will be recorded by future 
historians among the greatest achievements of our age. It 
was Wilson who actually broke down the Hohenzollern 
dynasty and crushed Kaiserism. It was he who first dared 


338 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


raise his voice against the militarist autocracy of Germany 
when the other statesmen were silent. They never wanted 
the downfall of Kaiserism, they could not conceive that it 
was possible to overthrow it. Wilson directed the moral 
and physical forces of America against Kaiserism and 
crushed it. It was a monumental achievement. 

When it became known that Mr. Wilson would per- 
sonally conduct the peace negotiations in Paris, the Euro- 
pean statesmen became alarmed at first. They feared 
America as a new dictator in international affairs. 

But Wilson was not familiar with the petty intrigues 
of European diplomacy, with its age-old rivalries and 
jealousies, and the great peacemaker, caught in the laby- 
rinth of European diplomatic entanglements, found himself 
forced to yield and yield for the sake of maintaining peace 
in the Peace Conference. He believed in himself, in his 
ideals, he felt absolutely convinced that he was but voicing 
the desires and hopes of the American people, and for the 
sake of attaining his great ideal, the instrument through 
which a durable and righteous peace could be secured, he 
forced himself to make concession after concession. But 
when he raised his voice in protest against secret treaties 
in the matter of Fiume it was too late. His utterances 
seemed to have lost their charm. The miracle seemed at 
an end. And the concessions which Wilson was forced to 
make led to compromises that prevented the peace treaties 
from becoming real instruments of righteousness and dur- 
able peace. Europe, with millions of bodies strewn over 
her fields during the war, was now strewn with dead hopes. 

I saw President Wilson in the Hotel Crillon, in Paris, 
on the day before he returned to America. I heard him 
speak to a group of American correspondents about the 


WOODROW WILSON 339 


peace treaty. He was still inspired. He defended his 
acts and his concessions on that occasion much more effec- 
tively than at any time after his return to America. He 
realized that the peace treaty was not a perfect document, 
but that it was the best that could have been secured under 
the circumstances. He had fought for his ideal, and while 
he was compelled to yield on numerous points, the others 
at the Peace Conference were compelled by him to yield 
still more. 

I shall never forget his brief answer to one of the cor- 
respondents who asked him whether he believed that Amer- 
ica should concern herself with all the troubles of the world. 

“Wherever injustice is done, whether it be done to a 
large group or to a small group, the moral force of Amer- 
ica must be there to defend those who are wronged or 
oppressed.”’ 

When the Russian passport question began to stir the 
sense of justice of the American people, when Russia dis- 
criminated against a certain portion of the people because 
of their religious belief, and the spirit of the best Amer- 
ican people was aroused against such discriminations, Wil- 
son delivered an address that was the most inspiring and 
most important contribution to the cause of equal rights 
for all American citizens. In that famous speech he said: 

“There lies a principle back of our life. America is 
not a mere body of traders; it is a body of free men. Our 
greatness is built upon our freedom—is moral, not ma- 
terial. We have a great ardor for gain; but we have a 
deep passion for the rights of man. Principles lie back of 
our action. America would be inconceivable without 
them. These principles are not incompatible with great 
material prosperity. On the contrary, unless we are deeply 


340 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


mistaken, they are indispensable to it. We are not willing 
to have prosperity, however, if our fellow citizens must suf- 
fer contempt for it, or lose the rights that belong to every 
American in order that we may enjoy it. The price is too 
great. 

“Here is a great body of our Jewish fellow citizens, 
from whom have sprung men of genius in every walk of 
our very life; men who have become part of the very stuff 
of America, who have conceived its ideals with singular 
clearness and led its enterprise with spirit and sagacity. 
They are playing a particularly conspicuous part in build- 
ing up the very prosperity of which our Government has so 
great a stake in its dealings with the Russian Government 
with regard to the rights of men. ‘They are not Jews in 
America; they are American citizens. In this great matter 
with which we deal, we speak for them as for rep- 
resentatives and champions of principles which underlie the 
very structure of our Government. They have suddenly be- 
come representatives of us all. By our actions for them 
shall be tested our sincerity, our genuineness, the reality 
of principle among us.” 

In a letter, dated July 5, 1911, Governor Wilson wrote 
me about the Russian passport question as follows: 

. . . “I do not see how there can be any divergence of 
feeling among patriotic Americans regarding the situation 
in Russia with regard to the religious discriminations made 
by the Russian Government. The principle involved ad- 
mits of no argument.”’ 

On January 23, 1912, Mr. Wilson wrote to me on the 
same matter as follows: 

“We have certainly abundant reason for thinking that 


WOODROW WILSON 341 


Russia has failed: to keep her obligations under the 
Breacye re 

In September, 1911, when Woodrow Wilson was a can- 
didate for the Presidency, I had the privilege to introduce 
him at the National Arts Club to a delegation of about 
one hundred journalists and editors of foreign language 
newspapers who gathered there for the discussion of the 
problem of immigration. Addressing the editors, I 
said: ‘You who have come to this country from various 
parts of Europe in quest of a home and of liberty, you are 
all American or striving to be American. You have 
brought with you your best traditions; your lofty ideals; 
your energy and earnestness; your love for your great liter- 
atures and your great cultures; the great past of your na- 
tions, and here in the land of tolerance and equal oppor- 
tunity you are working out your future together with the 
great future of the American people. We are all deeply 
interested in a better America, and the better America will 
be, the better will be the rest of the world.” 

And Woodrow Wilson said on that occasion: 

“T have always pleased myself with the idea that Amer- 
ica in some degree exists in spirit all over the world, and 
that there are men coming to these shores who have dis- 
played their force in our affairs, who bring to America a 
more vivid conception of what it means than those of us 
who were born and bred here ourselves entertain. . . . If 
I go to the country reputed to be a country of equality and 
liberty, I must expect to find constant visible and open signs 
of liberty and equality; and therefore, J carry to that coun- 
try a demand which that country must satisfy. I carry it 
because I was really, without knowing it, born an American. 


342 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


I wanted that thing that I thought I could get in America, 
and therefore broke the tender connections of old associa- 
tions, the intimate connections of a birthplace and went 
to a far country looking for an ideal. 

“T close as I began, by a very respectful protest against 
calling yourself foreign editors or anything with the word 
foreign in it. Your newspapers and magazines are pub- 
lished in languages which are not the general language of 
America, which is modified English, but at this stage of the 
melting-pot process every language in which you print a 
paper is largely used in the United States, and is used for 
the conveyance of American ideas. Now, I would just as 
well Americanize a language as Americanize an individual, 
and I welcome the process by which you are Americanizing 
other foreign languages as the rest of us have Americanized 
English, or speaking as someone wittily said, the ‘English 
Slanguage.’ All my interest is that you shouldn’t regard 
the language in which you print your periodicals as a 
foreign language when printed in America for the convey- 
ance of American thinking. Then we will have taken an- 
other step toward that combination of elements which is in 
the long run going to make America more varied, I dare 
say, in its natural gifts, more variegated in its genius than 
any other country in the world.” 

In July, 1914, President Wilson was reported to have 
made the following statement in the course of an address at 
the dedication of the American University: 

“That is the reason why scholarship has usually been 
most fruitful when associated with religion, and scholar- 
ship has never, so far as I can at this moment recall, been 


associated with any religion except the religion of Jesus 
Christ.” 


WOODROW WILSON 343 


I wrote him a note inquiring whether he was quoted cor- 
rectly in the press, adding: 

“T feel quite certain that you know that true scholar- 
ship has ever been and is now the very essence and founda- 
tion of Judaism, the religion which gave birth to Chris- 
tianity. It seems to me that it would, therefore, be unfair 
to exclude Judaism from the religions with which scholar- 
ship has been intimately associated.” 

On July 9, President Wilson made public the following 
letter addressed to me: 

“T am sorry that there should have been any unfair im- 
plication in what I said at the opening of the American 
University last week. You may be sure that there was 
nothing of the kind in my mind, for there certainly is noth- 
ing in my thought that would discriminate in the important 
matter you speak of, against Judaism. 

“I find that one of the risks and penalties of extempo- 
raneous speaking is that you do not stop to consider the 
whole field but address yourself merely to the matter di- 
rectly in hand.” 

Woodrow Wilson has often been described as a cold, 
unfeeling, thinking machine. The people who character- 
ized him thus did not know him. They knew neither his 
wonderful sense of humor, nor his deep sympathies for the 
suffering and the oppressed. 

I remember how deeply he was moved when I related to 
him the sufferings of the people in Palestine during the 
early stages of the war, when they needed food and medi- 
cines and there was no way of sending these to them at the 
time. The Jewish relief committee had made vain ef- 
forts to secure a boat to send food supplies and medicines. 
At the request of Dr. Magnes, of the Relief Committee, 


344 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


I took the matter up with the big-hearted, fair-minded 
Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, who was sym- 
pathetically inclined to help the suffering people of the 
Holy Land—Jews, Christians and Moslems—but he feared 
that it would be impossible to send the food supplies and 
medicines on a Government boat, as that would establish a 
precedent, and other nations might ask for the same form 
of relief. 

I then called on President Wilson and familiarized him 
with the tragic situation that prevailed in Palestine at the 
time. I told him that I had discussed the matter with 
Secretary Daniels and that Mr. Daniels had explained to 
me the difficulty of having such supplies sent on an Amer- 
ican transport. President Wilson was moved to tears. 
Then he said: 

“It may be that an American ship will go in that direc- 
tion before long. Ask Secretary Daniels to let you know 
when such a ship will start for the Mediterranean, and he 
will arrange to have space for food supplies and medicines 
to be shipped to the suffering people in the Holy Land.” 

Within two weeks I received a telegram from Secretary 
Daniels notifying me that the Vuz/can was starting for the 
Orient and that the Relief Committee would have space for 
nine hundred tons of food supplies and medicines at its 
disposal. 

When I sent President Wilson a message of thanks, he 
wrote me as follows: 

“Your telegram gratified and touched me very deeply. 
You may be sure I was exceedingly happy to do what I 
could to help and I was delighted to find that one of our 
ships was bound in that direction.” 


WOODROW WILSON 345 


I met Woodrow Wilson many times, both as Governor of 
New Jersey and as President of the United States. 

Discussing the literacy test for immigrants, he said to me 
one day: “This is an unfair and unjust test for immi- 
grants. Criminals and charlatans, who come to these shores 
to carry on injurious propaganda here or to enrich themselves 
by questionable methods, will not be barred by the literacy 
test. They can all read and write. But many of those 
who come here to flee religious or political persecution, who 
have been denied the opportunity to acquire the knowledge 
of reading and writing, would be barred from America by 
this test, even though they are honest and hard-working 
men and women, seeking equal opportunity, eager to adapt 
themselves to American standards of life and ready to con- 
tribute to America’s wealth.” 

During the early period of the World War, before the 
United States had entered it, President Wilson remarked 
to me at the White House: 

“Since the Germans accuse me of being pro-Ally, and the 
Allies believe that I am pro-German, I know that I am 
pursuing the right course of neutrality—the right course 
for America.” 

In 1914, when I established The Day, the national 
Jewish daily, President Wilson sent me the following 


letter: 
“The White House, Washington, 


“October 7, 1924. 
“My dear Mr. Bernstein: 
“T am greatly interested in what you tell me of the pro- 
jected daily to be entitled The Day and am heartily glad 
to know that you are to be its editor and moving spirit. [I 


346 THE CELEBRITIES OF OUR TIME 


have learned to entertain the highest esteem for you and 
to believe that you are devoted sincerely not only, but in a 
disinterested way, to the advancement of the highest inter- 
ests of the Jewish people in America. I congratulate them 
upon having such an editor for such a paper as that which 
you are planning to issue. 
“Cordially and sincerely yours 
“Wooprow WItson.” 


The following are a few characteristic letters I received 
from President Wilson: 


“The White House, Washington, 
“March 18, I9r5. 


“My dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“T have your telegram of yesterday about my little essay 
just republished. J doubt my right to authorize its pub- 
lication as you suggest, but would be very glad if the pub- 
lishers would give their consent. 

“Tf you should publish it, pray let me know. ‘There is a 
passage which ought to be changed. I had not read the 
essay since it was first published many years ago in the 
Century Magazine. 

“Cordially and sincerely yours, 
“Wooprow Witson.” 


“The White House, W ashington, 
“June 16, 1916. 


“My dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“Your letter of June twelfth is appreciated and has had 
my careful consideration. I hope sincerely that the plank 
which is to be inserted in our platform will seem to you to 


WOODROW WILSON 347 


speak the right doctrine. It certainly seems to me to do 
so. One has to be very careful nowadays not to commit 
the governing party of the country to any course of action 
which might interfere with, rather than set forward, its 
hopes in this matter by seeming to foreshadow a course 
which would irritate, rather than help. 
“Sincerely yours 
“Wooprow WILson.” 


“The White House, Washington, 
“Shadow Lawn, September 20, 1916. 


“My dear Mr. Bernstein: 

“Your plan for a special issue of your magazine has in- 
terested me very much and I avail myself of the opportu- 
nity to express my deep interest in the work you are doing 
for the Jews of America. I hope that they feel, as I am 
sure you do, that America is a real home in which all forces 
work together for justice and fair dealing, and I am sure 
that I need not assure you or them of my genuine interest 
in my fellow-citizens of Hebrew extraction. No man who 
knows the history of America, or, indeed, of the world, 
could fail to appreciate their notable contributions to in- 
dustry, philanthropy, intellectual development, and polit- 
ical liberty. 

“Cordially and sincerely yours 
“Wooprow Wirson.” 


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